Elvis Merzlikins, timely goals help Blue Jackets overcome Canucks on sluggish night

Their legs were gone. 

Perhaps the Blue Jackets had enjoyed too much Thanksgiving feasting or maybe it was overexposure to the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears playing football Thursday. Whatever the reason, the Blue Jackets were in slow motion Friday at Nationwide Arena against the Vancouver Canucks — an underachieving team that's off to a horrendous start. 

“Some of these nights, you’re not even mad,” said Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen, who shuffled his forward lines a couple times in search of a spark that didn’t arrive until the third period. “You can tell that they just don’t have it and we’re going to have games like that. But the only thing I said (in the second intermission) was, ‘Let’s just try and find a way to win this. Play a (good period) here. Let’s try to piece together a (good period), see what happens, you know?’” 

Well, it worked. 

The Blue Jackets did play better in the third, slightly, and they were able to reward goalie Elvis Merzlikins with a 4-2 victory for his hard work in net (39 saves). Vancouver outshout Columbus 41-20, forged an even wider advantage in attempted shots and basically owned the puck most of the game.

Still, the Canucks dropped to a surprising 6-13-2 and had to shake their heads in disgust on the way out of town. After improving to 12-6-0 and improbably stringing together their second three-game winning streak, the Blue Jackets could only hunch their shoulders and celebrate another win. 

Gustav Nyquist, Adam Boqvist and Jack Roslovic scored goals, one in each period in that order, to put Columbus up 3-2 late in the third. Max Domi sealed it by scoring into an empty net with 1:35 left to play.  

Vasily Podkolzin and former Blue Jackets forward Tyler Motte scored the goals for the Canucks, who started Thatcher Demko (17 saves) in net. 

“We’ll take the two (points) all day long,” Larsen said. “I say this all the time, ‘They’re not all going to be Picassos, right?’ We just tried to keep it together. We played better in the third. We were better, but that’s a heck of a win for us. You’ve got to gut some of these out.”

This wasn't even a Picasso knockoff.

It was just plain ugly until the final horn sounded and the Jackets were ahead. Now, they'll have to reset and do it again Saturday against the St. Louis Blues, completing a back-to-back on the road against a physical team that’s not happy about dropping its past two games to the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks. 

"It's no secret we didn't play up to our standards," said Nyquist, who assisted on Domi's goal for a two-point game. "It felt like we kind of stole this one, to be honest with you ... you’ll take any two points in this league, but we know we’ve got to be way better (Saturday) against this tough St. Louis team. We've got to be m better.” 

Elvis Merzlikins kept Blue Jackets close amid Canucks’ dominance

Vancouver controlled every facet of the game through the first two periods except the score, which remained 2-2 heading into the third. Merzlikins was the biggest reason it remained knotted, along with the goals by Nyquist in the first and Boqvist in the second. 

Merzlikins stopped 12 of 13 shots in the first period and 15 of 16 in the second, beaten only on a great shot from close range by Podkolzin and Motte’s tip of a long shot by Quinn Hughes. He went 12 of 12 in the third, shutting the door completely while the Blue Jackets figured out how to retake the lead and win. 

“Elvis was really good again tonight and I’ll never apologize for great goaltending, because in this league you’ve got to have it,” Larsen said. “If you don’t have it, you have no chance. And he was outstanding.” 

How dominant were the Canucks through the first 40 minutes? 

According to Natural Stat Trick, Vancouver built a 70/30 percentage edge in attempts at even strength and 16-5 margin in shots on goal. Overall, accounting for all situations, the Canucks started the third with 75% of the game’s attempts (48-16) and 76% of its scoring chances (19-6). 

They finished with a 64/36 percentage edge in attempts and 65/35 edge in scoring chances (26-14), keeping Merzlikins locked into the game to the end. 

“You can’t lose the focus,” he said. “Really, not even a half second. In my situation, I know the boys are there. Even though they are going to be tired, they’re still going to block the shots for me and they are going to try their best. If they are slow because they are tired, then it’s obviously up to me to save it or maybe give some small rebound in front for them, so maybe they can ice it or whatever they do with that puck.” 

Blue Jackets force Canucks to chase three one-goal leads 

Offensive opportunities were a rare sight for the Blue Jackets, but they capitalized on the few they got. 

Nyquist made it 1-0 during a Canucks power play in the first, Boqvist made it 2-1 early in the second and Roslovic scored the winner early in the third for a 3-2 lead. Domi capped it off with his empty-net goal, which was scored primarily with hustle.

All four were clutch. 

Nyquist’s goal was scored off a breakaway that he created by intercepting a point-to-point pass inside the Jackets’ zone during a penalty kill. After just beating Elias Pettersson down the ice, Nyquist then beat Demko with a wrist shot to the top left corner for his fourth goal of the season. 

“Gus has great legs, goes down and it gets us on the board there when it wasn’t going great,” Larsen said. “The good thing about tonight was we found a way to get the lead and they had to play catch-up a little bit against us.” 

Podkolzin tied it 1-1 late in the first, but the Jackets surged back in front, 2-1, on Boqvist’s goal 6:17 into the second. 

Boqvist’s ability to score sharp-angle goals from the right side of the net with a right-hand shot is becoming a hallmark. This time, he rewarded his defense partner, Gavin Bayreuther, with an assist for simply throwing the puck toward the net to keep it in the offensive zone. Cole Sillinger got his stick on it, forcing Demko to make a save, and the rebound went right to Boqvist.  

Roslovic’s winner capped one of the Blue Jackets’ lone flurries in the Vancouver zone.

Shots by Andrew Peeke and rookie Yegor Chinakhov missed wide, sending the puck to Vladislav Gavrikov at the left point. He sent a pass to Jakub Voracek along the left-wing wall, Voracek hit Roslovic with a feed to the high slot and the shot deflected into the net off Hughes' right leg. 

Domi’s goal was the result of another strong effort. Nyquist swatted the puck from the Blue Jackets’ zone into the neutral zone and Domi raced over to cut in front of Pettersson. He scooped up the puck and deposited it into the empty net to complete the scoring. 

Blue Jackets' Elvis Merzlikins denied on attempt at empty net 

It’s no secret that Merzlikins wants to score a “goalie goal” into an empty cage at the other end of the ice at some point. He’d already tried, unsuccessfully, a couple times in previous games and got another look late in this one. 

This time, he got to a loose puck behind his net with less than 10 seconds left off a dump-in by the Canucks. Quickly gathering it, he took a peek at the empty net and lifted a shot with a high trajectory over the heads of his teammates and the Canucks. It didn't get very far after Brock Boeser or Bo Horvat knocked it down in the Blue Jackets' zone with a stick extended high overhead. 

Merzlikins wasn’t amused. 

“I got really upset,” he said. “Really upset. I didn’t know what was happening over there, if the defensemen were there, but if there was a clear zone, that was going in. That was flying straight, perfectly high, that one was going in.” 

Blue Jackets three stars 

First star 

Elvis Merzlikins, goalie 

It’s hard to quantify how important Merzlikins was in this game. He wasn’t happy about allowing two goals, but the Canucks could’ve had six or seven if it weren’t for his work between the pipes.  

Second star 

Gustav Nyquist, forward 

Nyquist is working his way back into top form in his return from shoulder surgery in November 2020 that caused him to miss last season. He has also become a penalty-killing forward since coming to Columbus and scored shorthanded in the first period to give the Jackets a 1-0 lead. 

Third star 

Jake Bean, defenseman 

 Bean is more of an offensive defenseman, but he didn’t get on the scoresheet offensively. Instead, he’s noted here because of his all-around contributions in the win. Bean skated a career-high 27:07, which was also a game-high total, and had six of the Blue Jackets’ 19 blocked shots. 

bhedger@dispatch.com

@BrianHedger