Three Things: Roslovic & Laine Are On Fire, Marchenko's First Career Goal, Buyer's Remorse?

By Will Chase on December 11, 2022 at 9:20 pm
The Columbus Blue Jackets celebrate their overtime win over the Los Angeles Kings at Nationwide Arena.
Gaelen Morse-USA TODAY Sports
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They're streaking.

Jack Roslovic had a four-point night with a pair of special teams goals—one short-handed and one on the power play—breaking an 18-game drought without a goal.

Johnny Gaudreau had three points, including the game-winning goal in overtime, to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets past the Los Angeles Kings, 6-5, on Sunday at Nationwide Arena. The goal is Gaudreau's team-co-leading 10th. It's Columbus' second straight win.

Patrik Laine had a goal as part of a three-point night to continue a four-game point streak (four goals, three assists).

Kirill Marchenko scored his first career NHL goal, and Boone Jenner added a power-play goal for his 10th of the year. Jenner has a three-game point streak (one goal, two assists). 

Vladislav Gavrikov had two assists. Kent Johnson, Eric Gudbranson, and Eric Robinson each had assists.

Anze Kopitar scored a pair of goals. Blake Lizotte, Jaret Anderson-Dolan, and Adrian Kempe scored for the Kings. Kempe's goal was the 100th of his career. Arthur Kaliyev, Kevin Fiala, Carl Grundstrom, Alex Lafallo, Sean Durzi, and Sean Walker picked up assists.

Elvis Merzlikins made 33 saves on 38 shots.

Jonathan Quick made 20 stops on 26 shots. Quick became the 27th goaltender in league history with 18,000 saves. He's the fourth active goalie to accomplish the feat behind Marc-Andre Fleury (24,856), Craig Anderson (19,422), and Carey Price (19,304).

Laine And Roslovic On Fire

Laine continues to sizzle since his return from injury. We'll feature Laine and his new second-line mates—including Yegor Chinakhov—on Tuesday, and it was Roslovic and Laine again having chemistry during Sunday's win.

Continuing the odd-man rush theme from Friday's 3-1 victory over the Calgary Flames, Laine buried a two-on-one rush with Roslovic to give the Jackets a 3-2 lead at 10:03 of the second period. Gudbranson picked up his assist on this play.

But this was Roslovic's night as he went off with four points (two goals, two assists). He assisted on Jenner's first-period tip-in goal at 9:28 on the power play. The Jackets were 2-for-3 with the man advantage and Jenner's goal came on the first shot on their first man-advantage.

The two goals Roslovic scored on the night were his first goals since the 6-3 loss on Oct. 22 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. He was already starting to get hot with assists in two straight coming in, and four of the last five games.

During Sunday's win, Roslovic scored his first goal at 18:00 of the second period while short-handed to give Columbus the 4-3 lead. Robinson and Gavrikov assisted.

Then 91 seconds later at 19:31, he buried the power play goal to give the Jackets a 5-3 lead. Laine's second point came on the assist.

Roslovic now has two goals and four assists in the past six games, all in December. He's the first Blue Jackets player since Kristian Huselius to score both a short-handed goal and a power play goal in the same game, when Huselius did it on Nov. 19, 2009, at the Dallas Stars. Roslovic's four-point game matches a career-high.

Laine helped Gaudreau seal the deal 40 seconds into overtime and Gavrikov picked up his second assist.

For the game, Laine was +1 with three points (one goal, two assists), three shots, and one hit in 19:29. Roslovic was +2 with four points (two goals, two assists), two shots, one blocked shot, and one takeaway in 19:34.

First Career Goal For Kirill Marchenko

It took four games but Marchenko scored his first career NHL goal at 6:44 on his only shot in the first period. Johnson earned the assist.

​Marchenko also took a penalty and played 11:08 for the night. Marchenko is the 22nd player to score a goal for the Blue Jackets this season, tied with the Detroit Red Wings for the most scorers.

Buyer's Remorse?

It's been a tough season for the team and their preseason No. 1 goaltender.

In year one of his five-year deal ($5.4 million cap hit) signed prior to last season, Merzlikins is still the No. 1 guy, by default. Especially now as Joonas Korpisalo, the main guy for the club during the month of November, is on injured reserve for at least a week due to a lower-body injury.

Between struggles and injuries of his own, it's been a forgettable season for Merzlikins (4-7-0, 4.83 GAA, .862 SV%).

To the credit of the young Latvian netminder, Merzlikins looked sharp coming in for relief of Korpisalo, who left Friday's game after the first period, stopping 19 of 20 shots and earning the third star of the night honors.

But it wasn't pretty as he allowed five goals during Sunday's win. His goals saved above expected was -1.25 according to MoneyPuck. The Kings had the 5v5 edge in xGF: 3.64 - 1.4 per Natural Stat Trick. He does have wins in two straight so maybe it helps his confidence.

Tough Sleddin'

The Blue Jackets embark on a tough three-game road trip as they face the Florida Panthers at FLA Live Arena on Tuesday, Dec. 13 at 7:00 pm ET. Tonight, the Seattle Kraken defeated the Florida Panthers, 5-2, in Florida. The Blue Jackets beat the Panthers, 5-3, on Nov. 20 at Nationwide Arena.

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