The Columbus Blue Jackets headed into the back-end of a back-to-back riding a four game losing streak as well as coming off a 6-0 annihilation at the hands of the New York Islanders the night before. It’s safe to say they were looking to have a better Friday night against the Minnesota Wild.
Once again, the Jackets found themselves playing from behind, entering the third period down 2-1. However, they came on strong and pulled off the 3-2 victory in shootouts.
Without further ado, let's look at the three things from this game.
Better Goalie Play
On Thursday Joonas Korpisalo had a rough night, to say the least, in his first night back from a lower body injury. He gave up six goals on 33 shots for an .818 SV%.
One night later, the Blue Jackets turned back to starting goalie Elvis Merzlikins, who has had some recent struggles of his own. So far this month, he had a GAA of 4 with a SV% of .887.
Not so in this game though, Elvis saved 36 of 38 shots for a .947 SV% on his way to the first star of the game. A lot of what makes this so impressive is that the Columbus goaltender didn't allow a single goal after the 6:27 mark of the second period, including no goals in the third period, overtime, and shootouts, when his team needed him most in order to pull off the comeback victory.
Empty Your Net, Score A Goal
For the third time in less than a week, the Blue Jackets scored a goal against their opponent after emptying their own net. They scored an empty net goal Saturday night against the Bruins with only 1.8 seconds in overtime only to fall in shootouts, and they did it again Monday against the Toronto Maple Leafs but were unable to get the second empty net needed to get past regulation time.
This time however, they hit paydirt when Zach Werenski buried a wrister from the blue line with only 32 seconds to go in the game. Oliver Bjorkstrand and Gustav Nyquist picked up the assists on that goal.
The Rook's Big Night
Rookie Yegor Chinakhov had one heck of a night. He got Columbus on the board first with six and a half minutes left in the first period, slipping one past the glove of Minnesota's goaltender Kaapo Khakonen on the power play.
Chinakov capped off his night by scoring the only shootout goal to lift the Blue Jackets over the Wild. He once again slipped the puck past Khakonen, this time with the nutmeg through the goaltender's legs. Chinakov received the second star of the game for his efforts.
Next up:
The Columbus Blue Jackets battle the Vegas Golden Knights in Nationwide Arena on Sunday night. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. EST.
