It was a “wild” one Saturday night in St. Paul, Minnesota, as the Columbus Blue Jackets earned their first win of the season with a 7-4 victory over the Minnesota Wild, despite being outshot 52 to 32.
Captain Boone Jenner joined Rick Nash and Cam Atkinson as one of only three Blue Jackets to score 200 goals with the franchise with his empty-net goal late in the third. It took him 743 games to reach that milestone.
Related: Blue Jackets’ Marchenko Leads With Hat Trick in 7-4 Win Over Wild
Elvis Merzlikins had his work cut out for him in his season debut, stopping 48 of 52 shots. Kirill Marchenko led the way with a hat trick, Jenner added a goal and two assists, and Zach Werenski matched that with a goal and two assists of his own. Werenski logged 25:20 of ice time, second highest on the team behind Ivan Provorov.
Below are three takeaways from the wild 7-4 win.
Way Too Many Trips to the Box
The Blue Jackets went just 4-for-8 on the penalty kill and gave up far too many chances. A team with offensive firepower like the Wild will capitalize, and they did, but the Blue Jackets made up for it offensively.
Merzlikins bailed the team out with several clutch saves, but you cannot give up that many chances in tight, especially from the slot, as seen below in a visual scoring chances image via moneypuck.com.
The Blue Jackets were solid defensively at five-on-five, but all four of the Wild’s goals came on the power play. Two were scored by Kirill Kaprizov, who also assisted on the Matt Boldy second-period goal.
The Blue Jackets had trouble clearing the puck while shorthanded. The penalty kill was overworked, with two kills in the first period and three in both the second and third. Eight total penalties are a recipe for disaster. Three of the infractions were delay-of-game, puck-over-glass calls. Erik Gudbranson and Dmitri Voronkov each took two penalties.
Honestly, with the number of power plays they gave up, the Blue Jackets deserved to lose this game. But they made up for it, considering they deserved to win Thursday against the Nashville Predators. Even the Deserve to Win O’Meter on moneypuck.com gave the Blue Jackets just a 14.9% chance of winning in 1,000 simulated games.
That’s just how it sometimes goes in the game of hockey.
Merzlikins Up to the Task
Merzlikins, often scrutinized by the fan base, proved himself Saturday. He made timely saves, tracked the puck well with his glove, and moved confidently across the crease, especially when under siege on the penalty kill. He has earned another start this week, whichever day it may be.
“Elvis was obviously huge,” Jenner said. “Made timely save after timely save all night and kept us ahead or kept us tied when we needed it. Really happy with the response, and we can grow off it.”
Merzlikins finished with a .923 save percentage (SV%) after facing 52 shots. When a goalie gives up four goals and still posts a solid save percentage, it says a lot about how he handled the workload.
Marchenk-Goals Galore
Marchenko recorded his fourth career hat trick, starting with a goal just seven seconds into the second period, the fastest goal to start a period in Blue Jackets history. He added another in the final two minutes of that frame, cashing in on a painful deflection/assist from Voronkov and cleaning it up in front.
His third came on a five-on-three power play in the third period, when he rifled a dish from Werenski home.
“I can score more. Just shoot the puck,” Marchenko said. “It’s not really hard work. I just work on my shot, and my partners make great passes too. And I try to do my best work.”
He was due. Marchenko fired eight shots Thursday night in Nashville but couldn’t solve Juuse Saros. He’s looked great on the top-line right wing, with Sean Monahan centering and Voronkov on the left. Marchenko went 12-for-20 (60%) on faceoffs; many of those wins came on the penalty kill. Monahan went 14-for-25 (56%) and continues to be one of the team’s best in the circle, in my opinion, right there with Charlie Coyle.
If Marchenko keeps firing like this, 12 shots in two games, surpassing his 74-point, 31-goal 2024-25 season is very much in reach.
The Blue Jackets have Sunday off to regroup before their home opener against the New Jersey Devils on Monday, Oct. 13 at 7:00 PM EDT.
