Conor Garland has fit like a glove with the Columbus Blue Jackets. After being acquired from the Vancouver Canucks ahead of the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline last week, the undersized forward has put together back-to-back two-goal games, including scoring twice in a critical 5-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.
That comes a day after he tallied twice in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Monday. The Jackets are in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race, and Garland is shaping up to be a key addition as the club looks to be one of the last eight teams standing come the middle of April.
“Just winning is what matters, it's the best time of year to play in,” Garland said, per NHL.com's Corey Long. “You're going to be in tight games from here on out. It's stressful, but that's what makes it so fun.”
It's the first time the 30-year-old has recorded consecutive multi-goal games in the National Hockey League, and he looks like a different player away from the Canucks, who are a league-worst 19-37-8.
“He plays the right way,” superstar defenseman Zach Werenski, who had two assists in the triumph, said of Garland. “He competes. He works extremely hard in battles. He's a smaller guy, but he doesn't play like it and that brings everyone else into the fight.”
Blue Jackets fighting tooth and nail for a playoff spot
After missing out on the Stanley Cup Playoffs in each of the last five seasons, the Blue Jackets are going to battle right until the end in 2025-26. Columbus' point streak is now up to seven games; at 33-21-10, they're just two points back of the Boston Bruins for the final wildcard berth in the conference with 18 games left.
“The puck management was far better tonight than it's been,” head coach Rick Bowness, who replaced Dean Evason in January, said, per Long. “Listen, that was a very tired team tonight. They had a war in Buffalo, so they battled hard tonight, but I really liked the way we managed the game, managed the puck and obviously the special teams was the difference tonight.”
The Blue Jackets have looked like a completely different team under Bowness, while Elvis Merzlikins and Jet Greaves have both been more than serviceable between the pipes.
Now with a nearly fully healthy roster, along with the addition of Garland — who is up to 30 points in 53 games after managing 50 points in 81 contests in 2024-25 — the Jackets look well-positioned to make a late season push down the stretch.
They'll play nine of their final 18 games at Nationwide Arena, a place where they're 17-8-7 on the year. Up next is a quick two-game road trip, with stops in Florida on Thursday and Philadelphia on Saturday to play the Panthers and Flyers, respectively.
