Isles continue playoff push vs. Blue Jackets tonight

Head coach Barry Trotz, Mathew Barzal and Leo Komarov of... — Head coach Barry Trotz, Mathew Barzal and Leo Komarov of the Islanders on the bench against the Wild at Barclays Center on Sunday. Credit: Jim McIsaac

By Andrew Grossandrew.gross@newsday.comMarch 26, 2019

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Islanders are again in a next-man-up situation as they continue their push toward clinching a playoff spot when they face the Blue Jackets on Tuesday night at Nationwide Arena.

Left wing Andrew Ladd will undergo surgery this week to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and will miss five months, president and general manager Lou Lamoriello said.

If the Islanders beat the Blue Jackets in regulation, they then can clinch their first playoff berth since 2016 with any type of win at Winnipeg on Thursday night. But they will be playing their fourth game without Valtteri Filppula as the third-line center is out four weeks with an apparent left shoulder injury.

Coach Barry Trotz did not reveal his personnel decisions but it appeared rookie Michael Dal Colle will draw back into the lineup for Ladd after being a healthy scratch for eight games.

“Any time you’re in the lineup, you want to take advantage of it,” said Dal Colle, who has two goals and three assists in 23 games. “Especially at this time of the year.”

So far, slick-skating Tanner Fritz, 27, has filled in admirably for Filppula in the three games since being recalled from Bridgeport (AHL). Fritz played four seasons at Ohio State (2011-15) and Tuesday marks his first return to Columbus as an NHL player.

Fritz said, while at Ohio State, he would get to about one Blue Jackets game per month.

“There were some guys I was pretty close with on the Blue Jackets at the time,” Fritz said. “It was pretty cool to have it five minutes away from campus.”

Trotz also did not reveal which goalie he would start against the Blue Jackets.

Robin Lehner was in net as the Islanders won 4-2 at Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon and again in a 2-0 victory over the Coyotes at NYCB Live’s Nassau Coliseum on Sunday afternoon. But the Islanders have won the first three games against the Blue Jackets with Thomas Greiss in net. Greiss made 31 saves apiece in both a 3-0 win at Columbus on Feb. 14 and a 2-0 victory at the Coliseum on March 11. Overall, Greiss has stopped 90 of 92 shots against the Blue Jackets.

Trotz said neither of those facts swayed his choice for a starter on Tuesday.

“We’ve got a plan,” Trotz said. “We’ve stayed with it. We haven’t deviated from it all year, other than when someone has gotten hurt.”

The Blue Jackets snapped a three-game losing streak with a 5-0 win at Vancouver on Sunday as Josh Anderson (26 goals, 19 assists) scored twice and Sergei Bobrovsky made 21 saves for his seventh shutout.

Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno will return on Tuesday after missing four games to be with his ailing 22-month-old son, who remains hospitalized as he battles pneumonia.