diff --git a/unit_tests/UnitTestTpetraHelperObjects.h b/unit_tests/UnitTestTpetraHelperObjects.h
index f5f879217d..dc572e058a 100644
--- a/unit_tests/UnitTestTpetraHelperObjects.h
+++ b/unit_tests/UnitTestTpetraHelperObjects.h
@@ -14,6 +14,19 @@
 
 namespace unit_test_utils {
 
+inline
+bool find_col(int col,
+               const std::vector<int>& cols,
+               int begin, int end)
+{
+  for(int i=begin; i<end; ++i) {
+    if (cols[i] == col) {
+      return true;
+    }
+  }
+  return false;
+}
+
 struct TpetraHelperObjectsBase {
   TpetraHelperObjectsBase(stk::mesh::BulkData& bulk, int numDof)
   : yamlNode(unit_test_utils::get_default_inputs()),
@@ -109,10 +122,21 @@ struct TpetraHelperObjectsBase {
 
     for(int i=0; i<localMatrix.numRows(); ++i) {
       KokkosSparse::SparseRowViewConst<MatrixType> constRowView = localMatrix.rowConst(i);
-
-      for(int j=0; j<constRowView.length; ++j) {
-        EXPECT_EQ(cols[rowOffsets[i]+j], constRowView.colidx(j));
-        EXPECT_NEAR(vals[rowOffsets[i]+j], constRowView.value(j), 1.e-14)<<"i: "<<i<<", j: "<<j;
+      for(int offset=rowOffsets[i]; offset<rowOffsets[i+1]; ++offset) {
+        int goldCol = cols[offset];
+        bool foundGoldCol = false;
+        for(int j=0; j<constRowView.length; ++j) {
+          if (constRowView.colidx(j) == goldCol) {
+            foundGoldCol = true;
+            EXPECT_NEAR(vals[offset], constRowView.value(j), 1.e-14)<<"i: "<<i<<", j: "<<j;
+          }
+          else if (!find_col(constRowView.colidx(j),
+                             cols, rowOffsets[i], rowOffsets[i+1]))
+          {
+            EXPECT_NEAR(0.0, constRowView.value(j), 1.e-14);
+          }
+        }
+        EXPECT_TRUE(foundGoldCol);
       }
 
       EXPECT_NEAR(rhs[i], localRhs(i,0), 1.e-14)<<"i: "<<i;