All that separates the Columbus Blue Jackets from regular season play is one last date with the Washington Capitals.
Both teams wrap up their respective preseason schedules for the year on Saturday night in D.C. before final rosters are finalized by Monday’s deadline.
Goaltender Elvis Merlikins doesn't have to worry about making the roster as he should be in between the pipes for the team's season opener next Wednesday, Oct. 12 at the Carolina Hurricanes.
Though according to The Athletic's Aaron Portzline, Merzlikins has dealt with an upper-body injury in recent days, however, it doesn't sound serious.
We’ve talked quite a bit about Merzlikins over the off-season, and it’s an encouraging sign that the No. 1 netminder appears ready to go. In his preseason debut on Sept. 25, Merzlikins played 39:42 against the Pittsburgh Penguins, stopping all 20 shots faced in a 5-1 win. Then he stopped 34 of 35 shots against the Capitals in a 2-1 victory on Oct. 1.
Elvis Merzlikins everyone
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 2, 2022
A hockey puck's worst nightmare pic.twitter.com/r32STdavND
At least prior to Thursday's 7-0 shutout victory over the Blues, there might have been added emphasis on the importance for Merzlikins to play well and get off to a good start with the season quickly approaching.
Both Daniil Tarasov and Joonas Korpisalo are getting back into the swing of things following hip surgery for each last spring. While Korpisalo has yet to appear in a preseason game, Tarasov has played, including last Monday’s 8-1 loss to the Hurricanes, which he left early for precautionary reasons.
As Portzline mentioned earlier in the week, general manager Jarmo Kekalainen thwarted any concern.
"He felt something during the game, and we felt like we didn’t want to take a chance,” Kekalainen said. “He seems to be fine. The first tests after surgery can be scary, and you have to battle through it.
“It wasn’t sore (Tuesday) after what happened (in Monday’s game).”
Two low-key encouraging stats tonight for #CBJ:
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) October 7, 2022
22 saves on 22 shots against by Daniil Tarasov.
Four hits by Boone Jenner in his preseason debut.
Apparently, Tarasov is fine because he was Thursday's second star of the game, making all 24 saves in the 7-0 shutout win. Never mind that it was an exhibition, or that the initial puck drop was backed up twice due to travel issues affecting the Blues' arrival into Columbus.
This is how fast you have to get ready when your plane lands 42 minutes before puck drop. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/8n1tt1UJ5w
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) October 6, 2022
Tarasov looks ready to be the No. 2 guy behind Merzlikins.
Meanwhile, Korpisalo has at least resumed on-ice practice despite not participating in any game action. His recovery timeline is about the same as Tarasov's, though Tarasov returned one month earlier.
"Huge difference," Korpisalo said, comparing practice and actual games. "In practice, you kind of know what the (shooters are) doing. A game situation is completely different and less predictable. It’s not just reading plays but going a full 60 minutes.
"I can’t say any timetable. There’s still some stuff I need to work on."
Last season, Merzlikins' best month was in October when he was 4-1-0 with 1.98 goals against average and a .939 save percentage. Portzline reported in the Oct. 2 edition of The Athletic that Merzlikins was in Columbus most of the summer getting his off-season work in. He played for Latvia in the World Championships after the 2021-22 NHL regular season ended.
When I spoke with Bally Sports analyst Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre last month, he had interesting things to say about Merzlikins.
For me, the big thing with (Merzlikins) is like you said, in April, he learned that less is more. When he had to play every single night, every single game.
He became a little less active in the net, (calmer), and when you look at those good goaltenders, those elite goaltenders, they're almost boring to watch in net. I think (Merzlikins), yes, that energy...and it's part of his personality, and we're not trying to take that away, but he's trying to do too much sometimes when being calm and almost tired in net helps you play better positionally.
"I want to just feel the game, the game flow, and all that stuff," Merzlikins said following his performance against the Capitals last weekend.
"It was weird. Third period I felt really heavy legs...like I wasn't used to it. The good part is just to practice, keep focusing all the time."
That less-is-more mentality Grand-Pierre spoke about, and Merzlikins having played the bulk of last April's games down the stretch to help the goalie become more acquainted with handling a larger load, was designed to help Merzlikins in the future.
Most notably, playoff races and beyond.
But that same mindset can apply to the beginning of this season, which isn't an easy schedule for Columbus to start out with.
After playing the Hurricanes in next week's opener, they'll return to Nationwide Arena for the Oct. 14 home opener against the three-time reigning Eastern Conference champion, Tampa Bay Lightning. Then they travel to St. Louis to play the Blues on Sat. Oct. 15 for the first of 16 back-to-back games this season.
"We have our No. 1 goalie healthy, which is great," Kekalainen said earlier in the week. "And we’ve got three games in four nights (to open the regular season), which (Merzlikins) can handle. Lots of goaltenders play three-in-fours, just like the position players do."
It sounds like most of the NHL regulars will make the trip and play in Saturday's preseason finale. Whether Merzlikins gets one more tuneup remains to be seen but at least it looks like Tarasov would be ready to go as the second in command once the season is set to start.
