The only people who might understand how disappointed the New York Islanders were Tuesday night are the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Islanders and Blue Jackets will each look to bounce back from their latest third-period collapses Thursday night, when New York hosts Columbus in Elmont, N.Y.

Both teams were off Wednesday after squandering three-goal, third period leads in potentially demoralizing overtime losses at home.

The Islanders gave up three goals in the final 8:05 of regulation before William Eklund scored with 4.3 seconds left in the extra session to lift the San Jose Sharks to a 5-4 win.

Meanwhile, the Blue Jackets surrendered three goals in the first 6:38 of the third before Drew Doughty scored the game-winner 33 seconds into overtime to give the Los Angeles Kings a 4-3 win.

The loss continued New York's season-long struggles in the third period and left normally poker-faced coach Lane Lambert seething. The Islanders have been outscored 38-20 after the second period this season and have blown a third-period lead eight times. They are 3-1-4 in those games.

The collapse against the Sharks -- who entered Tuesday with the fewest points and fewest goals in the NHL -- was especially frustrating for the Islanders. They scored the first two goals of the third to extend their lead to 4-1 before Kevin Labanc's redirect began San Jose's comeback. Tomas Hertl closed out his hat trick by scoring a pair of goals in the final 3:11.

"We had the game under control with 8 1/2 minutes left," Lambert said. "To lose that hockey game is a sin."

Lambert's poker face returned Wednesday, when he noted the Islanders have collected points in nine of their last 10 games (5-1-4) despite blowing five third-period leads in that span.

"We've had points in nine out of 10 games and I get it -- it's skewed because of the overtime and shootout losses," Lambert said. "But you have to be very, very careful of the negativity outweighing the positives."

Despite residing in last place in the Metropolitan Division with 21 points, the Blue Jackets have a unique understanding of what the Islanders are going through. Columbus has led in the third period eight times in 27 games but is 1-2-5 in those contests. Its five overtime losses overall are tied for the third-most in the NHL behind only the Islanders (seven) and Seattle Kraken (six).

"What do we have to lose at this point? Let's keep playing aggressive," Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski said. "At this point in the season, we have to find ways to win games."

On Tuesday, the Blue Jackets seemed primed to upset the surging Kings when they scored three goals in a 25-minute span bridging the first two periods. But Los Angeles tied the game by scoring three times on its first nine shots in the third.

"We just seemed to be in this kind of vicious circle where we start a game strong, have really good first few periods and then we kind of back off (and) it needs to be addressed," said the Blue Jackets' Mathieu Olivier, who scored Columbus' final goal.

"We can't keep talking about this. We've got to figure out a way to stop that."

--Field Level Media

Quickchart Matchup

Columbus Off vs  NY Islanders Def

2.88 GF 3.1 GA 30.5 Shots 35 Shots 8 PP 20 PK

NY Islanders Off vs  Columbus Def

2.62 GF 3.42 GA 30 Shots 33.5 Shots 13 PP 7 PK