Merzlikins fueled by emotion in loss
Elvis Merzlikins could tell the Blue Jackets put forth a better effort. Columbus coach John Tortorella and forwards Oliver Bjorkstrand and Zac Dalpe saw it, too.
But in Monday’s 4-2 loss to the Florida Panthers, a better effort wasn’t enough. The Panthers struck first, even as the Jackets felt they had the ice tilted in their favor early, and their late-game pressure didn’t translate into a victory.
Here are some takeaways from the loss.
Merzlikins energized
Elvis Merzlikins is far from the first goaltender that Panthers forward Patric Hornqvist has tried to frustrate, and he won’t be the last.
Merzlikins doesn’t mind it, though, when Hornqvist crashes the crease harder than necessary or takes an extra shove after the whistle. If anything, he’d like more of it.
“He gave me energy,” Merzlikins said. “Even if he was (provoking) me, he gave me energy, so I wish he would keep going all night long . ... I love when the players do that, but if they think it’s to get in my head? Well, good luck. They are not going to get in my head, so they can try as hard as they want.”
At one point Monday, Merzlikins and Hornqvist exchanged words across the net after Hornqvist jabbed at a rebound after Merzlikins had covered the puck. Merzlikins was visibly angry, and the sequence seemed to fire him up throughout the remainder of the game.
Merzlikins finished with 35 saves on 38 shots, including a stop on a penalty shot in the third period while the game was 3-2.
“We talk about the blue paint all the time, trying to get to theirs and them trying to get to ours and what we do when they’re there,” Tortorella said. “I think the goaltender is involved in that as far as protecting that piece of ice . ...
Elvis, that’s part of his personality. I think that’s part of his being as far as being the goaltender he is.”
Dalpe’s second of the season
Less than two weeks after scoring his first NHL goal in nearly five years, Dalpe got his second goal of the season in the third period.
Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made the initial save, and the next, and the next. But the puck kept ending up on Dalpe’s stick, and he was eventually able to put it in the net.
“Just junkyard hockey,” Dalpe said. “Whack and go, I guess. Kind of like my golf game.”
Added Tortorella: “I think it’s deserved that he gets rewarded with a goal, because I thought he did some good things tonight.”
Dalpe has two goals and one assist in 10 games with the Jackets this year, and if he remains in the lineup the rest of the way, he’ll finish with 19 NHL games this season — his most since playing 21 games for the Sabres in 2014-15.
“I feel like honestly it’s probably the best 10 games in a row I’ve played at this level,” Dalpe said. “I don’t have a rhyme or reason for it. I’m just working hard and it’s paying off finally.” bjohnson@dispatch.com @baileyajohnson_