The story coming into the Columbus Blue Jackets road game with the New York Islanders Sunday was that head coach Dean Evason changed the lines after winning four games in a row.

He moved Kent Johnson from the second to fourth line and replaced him with Miles Wood. He also took fourth liner Yegor Chinakhov and made him a healthy scratch, bringing Zach Astin-Reese out of press box purgatory.

The move worked when Miles Wood evened the score at 1-1 in the second period on a perfect pass to the back post from new linemate Adam Fantilli. The Islanders had dominated in the first period, outshooting the Jackets 18-3. Columbus goaltender Elvis Merzlikins kept his team in the game going to the second.

The Blue Jackets took a 2-1 lead in the third period when Denton Mateychuk dished off a pass, then headed to the net. Kirill Marchenko found him as he skated across the top of the crease. Mateychuck put the puck on his backhand and beat New York goaltender David Rittich.

As Columbus tried to hold on down the stretch, the Islanders again attacked the Blue Jackets zone, scoring a 6-on-5 goal to tie the score with 1:07 left to play. Twenty-nine seconds later, Simon Holmstrom found the puck on the goal line behind Merzlikins after an Anders Lee shot and scooted it home for the 3-2 win.

The Blue Jackets return home for two days, including a practice on Tuesday, before heading to the West Coast to play four games in seven days. They start the swing in Calgary Wednesday and end in Seattle a week from Tuesday.