Coach’s time with Jackets nears end
Coach John Tortorella's teams are classically well-organized and typically hard-nosed. Those are their calling cards. The Blue Jackets in Detroit were disoriented and ductile, and it was something of a statement.
If you are a Jackets fan and you watched their back-to-back against the Red Wings, you might have had a thought about jamming butter knives in your eye sockets. Although the games were closer than the scores might suggest, the Jackets played some of their worst hockey of the season.
And that is saying something. The Wings' first goal Sunday was scored one-on-four, during a Detroit line change; not one of the Jackets' four defenders stepped up to engage the puck carrier; and one of the defenders (Gabriel Carlsson) decided his best option was to screen the goaltender.
The Red Wings, who went from the 30th-worst team in the league to the 28th-worst with the two victories, pushed the Jackets all over the place. The Jackets — with the notable exception of goaltender Elvis Merzlikins — didn't push back. Mystifying.
“Absolutely, yes, because honestly, this year I feel useless,” said Merzlikins, who played both games in Detroit and was solid in each. “I want to play. This is more personal. It's more for myself. I don't feel that I am the Elvis from last year.”
Remember the Elvis from last year, who was thrust into the starting role when Korpisalo suffered a torn meniscus on Dec. 29, 2019?
Merzlikins rattled off a stretch that became integral to the Jackets' run back into the playoff chase. He went 12-3-1 in a span of 16 games, and flourished as the No. 1 goalie.
He had a minuscule 1.57 goalsagainst average in those games, his .950 save percentage was scorching and his five shutouts eventually gained broader attention, starting with the first of his NHL career against the Golden Knights in Las Vegas.
Could anybody blame a guy named Elvis for turning his goalie paddle into a “guitar” afterward and strumming it?
At that point, Merzlikins' talent was beginning to show at the right time for a team that desperately needed him. The playoffs held months later were a different story, after Merzlikins had a meltdown late in an overtime loss to Toronto that included a season-ending injury, but his regular-season exploits were not forgotten.
Last April, Korpisalo and Merzlikins each signed two-year extensions, cementing the Jackets' top two goalies for this season and next. They started this year as what coach John Tortorella described as a “full tandem” in which they alternated starts — a plan that was interrupted when Merzlikins was injured Feb. 3 in practice.
He missed three games, then backed up Korpisalo for two more before returning to the net, and was injured again Feb. 20 against Nashville after scrambling to make a save.
The second injury cost him seven games, and Merzlikins hasn't started more than two in a row since. His backto-back starts in Detroit marked the second time in his NHL career he has handled such a workload in a 48-hour window, and he came out of it wanting more.
Merzlikins said he wants a shot to become the Jackets' top option, even if the lower-body injury that kept Korpisalo from playing in Detroit has healed, which may be the case after goalie Cam Johnson was assigned back to the taxi squad Monday.