The Columbus Blue Jackets faced the Los Angeles Kings on Friday night to start out a back-to-back homestand for the club.
The Blue Jackets hung tough, but ultimately fell in overtime 4-3.
Here are three things from a one-point effort:
46 Seconds Of Heaven
The night started out rough offensively, to say the least, with the Blue Jackets going down 9-1 in shots coming out of the gate. The club started to find a rhythm, but remained significantly behind the Kings in shots on goal. With six minutes left in the second period and being outshot 24-15, Columbus finally let up a goal, falling behind 1-0. The Jackets were in desperate need of a pick-me-up on the offensive end.
The Blue Jackets woke up in a hurry starting at the 4:26 mark of the of the second quarter. It all started with a goal from none other than Patrik Laine off an accidental pass from the Kings' Mikey Anderson. Oliver Bjorkstrand followed that up by sailing the puck past the goaltender's stick and into the net off an assist from Sean Kuraly. And if that wasn't enough, with three minutes and 40 seconds left in the second Justin Danforth potted his fourth goal of the season off his own rebound, with the assists going to Max Domi and Sean Kuraly.
In just 46 seconds, Columbus went from one goal down to leading 3-1. With that 46 seconds, the team set its franchise record for the shortest amount of time to score three goals.
Merzlikins Fades Down The Stretch
Elvis Merzlikins faced 43 shots tonight and saved 39 for a respectable .907 SV%. However, he started out much stronger than that, not allowing a goal until the 24th shot he faced and saving 28 of 29 shots in the first two periods.
Just under four minutes into the third period Merzlikins got his glove on a shot from the Kings' Dustin Brown. Unfortunately he didn't fully secure the puck, knocking it into the net with the bottom of his glove. To add insult to injury, the shot looked to be going wide of the net before it was touched.
It was mistakes like these that led Merzlikins to give up three goals on 14 shots in the third period and overtime. The fatigue that comes with facing 43 shots is understandable, but the Blue Jackets will need him to stand stronger down the stretch than he did in Friday's effort.
Jackets Fall In Overtime
Coming into this game Columbus was 9-1, with the best percentage in the league on games that went past regulation time. With the December exception of an Anaheim shootout, Columbus in overtime has been a literal guarantee.
That guarantee looked to be reinforced just two minutes into overtime with the Blue Jackets tallying another overtime win when Boone Jenner beat Los Angeles goalie Jonathan Quick. Unfortunately, the goal was called back due to Zach Werenski being offside — the 8th time this season the Blue Jackets had a goal taken away due to an offsides review. Deflated, it would be just two minutes later that the Kings' Viktor Arvidsson would complete his hat trick and lift the Kings over the Blue Jackets, 4-3.
