Merzlikins’ performance encouraging
If the “monster” that dwells inside Elvis Merzlikins isn’t fully awake, it’s groggily stirring and rubbing its eyes.
A little more than a week after telling The Dispatch he didn’t feel like himself this season, like the goaltender who garnered a ton of fan support and hype in Europe the past few years, the Blue Jackets’ 25-year-old rookie took a big step in the right direction on New Year’s Eve.
Merzlikins, who’d never started a regular-season game at Nationwide Arena, was outstanding Tuesday in
a 36-save performance to lead the Blue Jackets to a 4-1 victory over the Florida Panthers, extending the fourthlongest point streak in franchise history to 11 games (7-0-4).
“I could tell (beforehand) how well he was preparing for the game,” said defenseman Zach Werenski, who helped Merzlikins out with his first NHL hat trick. “You can kind of tell when someone’s on their game, and he was on his game. It was fun to watch. He made some huge saves. They’re a good offensive team and he shut them down, so it was awesome.”
Now comes the hard part.
The Blue Jackets (1814-8) need Merzlikins to unleash his inner monster again Thursday night at TD Garden, when they face the Boston Bruins for the first time since a second-round playoff series last season. The Bruins (24-7-10) are on another surefire
course heading for the postseason, leading the Atlantic Division, while the Jackets continue to scrape by with a growing mountain of injuries and an equal amount of duct tape and glue.
The Jackets are also leaning on a different kind of monster than what Merzlikins says is inside of him, calling up yet another Cleveland Monster on Wednesday — forward Justin Scott — after another significant injury. This time, it’s rookie forward Alexandre Texier, who has a lumbar stress fracture in his back and is out indefinitely.
Coming after No. 1 goalie Joonas Korpisalo needing surgery Monday to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee — an injury expected to keep him out four to six weeks — the Blue Jackets need Merzlikins even more now.
Good luck getting any of them to admit it, though.
Operation: Interview Shutdown has been enacted with Merzlikins, keeping him quiet while he focuses inward and the rest of the team downplays his
excellence, likely to keep the “monster” in check.
The Panthers outshot the Blue Jackets 37-28, nearly doubled them in attempts (73-42) and controlled much of the first two periods. If it weren’t for their goalie, starting his first game in place of Korpisalo, it could’ve been a much less enjoyable New Year’s Eve in Columbus.
Comments afterward, however, were muted — and, in Merzlikins’ case, delivered through the team’s public relations team.
“That’s great for him,” forward Gustav Nyquist said of Merzlikins. “He played a really good game. Made key saves when we needed it, so great for him … and for us.”
Coach John Tortorella was equally subdued when asked if he was happy to see Elvis finally leave an NHL building victorious.
“Yeah, it’s good for him,” Tortorella said, in a voice soft enough for a library. “And he’s getting ready to play his next one.”