COL 7, CBJ 3: Goaltending, Defense Cost Blue Jackets On Home Ice In Sound Defeat By Avalanche

	1	2	3	F
	2	3	2	7
	1	2	0	3
CBJ GOALS:  Monahan (P1, 6:35) Aston-Reese (P2, 4:16) Jenner (P2, 7:56)

The Colorado Avalanche scored five unanswered goals Thursday night in a 7-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets, putting a serious dent in Columbus' playoff hopes and calling the team's defense and goaltending into question.

Nathan MacKinnon gave the Avalanche an early lead, scoring his 31st of the season just 3:25 into the night. It was the 10th time in 11 games that the Blue Jackets gave up the first goal of the game.

The Blue Jackets answered just over three minutes later with Sean Monahan's third goal in his last two games. Colorado regained the lead in the final two minutes of the period, heading into intermission with a 2-1 lead.

Columbus tied the game just over four minutes into the second period with a seeing-eye goal from the corner by Zach Aston-Reese, ending a streak of 57 games without a goal for the bottom-six grinder. Less than four minutes later, the Blue Jackets would take their only lead of the night on Boone Jenner's sixth goal in his last five games. 

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From there, it quickly turned south for the home team.

The Avalanche scored three times in the final eight minutes of the second to turn the 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 lead.

"Their third goal is when we kind of felt it," said head coach Dean Evason, answering a question as to when they felt things start to cave in. "We just can't shoot ourselves in key situations where the game is still sitting there."

Colorado would make it 7-3 with two goals 1:48 apart early in the third. 

Following the seventh goal, starting goaltender Elvis Merzlikins smashed his stick on the ice, shattering it. He skated to the bench for a new one but head coach Dean Evason instead directed him down the tunnel, bringing Daniil Tarasov into the game. 

It was the first time this season that Evason pulled his starting goaltender, with the Blue Jackets becoming the last team in the NHL to do so.

When asked if it was the play of Merzlikins or the outburst that led to his benching, Evason said both factored into his decision to pull him.

"Little of both," said Evason. "I'm not going to elaborate on that, but yeah, a little of both." 

Tarasov made four saves on four shots in relief.

The loss, coupled with a Montreal Canadiens win, put the Blue Jackets four points behind in the race for the second wild card spot. 

"If we're going to lose hockey games, we don't deserve to be in the playoffs," said Zach Werenski.

"We're still not out of it, so we just have to win hockey games," said Werenski. "That's all we have to do."

Here's how the Blue Jackets came up short in a big way Thursday night:

1st Period:

(3:25 — COL Goal): MacKinnon takes the puck outside the circle and skates into the slot, briefly losing it but getting it back and getting a shot off that goes five-hole on Merzlikins and gives the Avalanche an early 1-0 lead.

(6:35 — CBJ Goal): Monahan's rebound goal ties the game at 1-1 as the Blue Jackets respond to Colorado's early goal. Marchenko enters the zone and does a great job to hang on to the puck and Voronkov uses the boards to wrap it around to Fabbro, who fires from the point. His shot is saved by Blackwood but rebound goes right to Monahan on the doorstep, who easily tucks it in the net to tie the game.

Monahan ties the game at 1-1 at the 6:35 mark of the 1st with this easy rebound off Dante Fabbro's shot from the point. #CBJpic.twitter.com/yxUGVZ8fCt

— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) April 3, 2025

(18:05 — COL Goal): The Avalanche regain a lead late in the first after being the beneficiary of a good bounce. Makar's shot from the high slot is wide but bounces off the boards behind Merzlikins and right to Nelson, who is charging in and gets the ricochet past Elvis to make it 2-1 Colorado.

2nd Period:

(4:16 — CBJ Goal): Can't score if you don't shoot, or something like that, as Aston-Reese gets his first goal since Nov. 15th on a shot from the boards near the goal line. He fires it towards Blackwood and it somehow squeaks through to tie the game at 2-2.

ZAR gets his fifth goal of the season and first since Nov. 15th on this (of all) shots, tying the game at 2-2 in the second period. #CBJpic.twitter.com/UZ7qVyh5nA

— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) April 4, 2025

(7:56 — CBJ Goal): Jenner starts the goal-scoring sequence alongside the boards when he finds Jack Johnson in the high slot. Johnson shoots into the glove of Blackwood but a seemingly easy catch is dropped and the puck trickles in front of him just enough for Jenner to get a stick on it first and snap it past him to give Columbus their first lead of the game at 3-2.

Boone Jenner is averaging a point a game (6g-12a-18p) since his return to the lineup and gives the #CBJ their first lead of the night, 3-2, on this putback after #GoAvsGo's Blackwood has trouble catching the initial shot.pic.twitter.com/qPOdkOF38d

— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) April 4, 2025

(12:39 — COL Goal): Colorado gets a 3-on-2 break after Mathieu Olivier gets caught out of position and it ends with Charlie Coyle's first goal as a member of the Avalanche. He takes a nice pass from Miles Wood and fires from the near the dot, beating Merzlikins on an average shot.

(14:02 — COL Goal): ...and 83 seconds after they tie it, the Avalanche take the lead on a Parker Kelly shot that Merzlikins just has to save. Columbus gives it away in their own zone and Jack Drury finds Kelly skating into the high slot, beating Merzlikins glove-side on another average shot to make it 4-3 Colorado. 

(19:22 — COL Goal): The Avalanche get their first two-goal lead of the night with Makar's power-play goal. Academic here: MacKinnon enters the zone, skates around and loses Luke Kunin. He has the option to shoot from the slot but instead gets it to his left and to Makar, who fires from the dot and makes it 5-3 Colorado.

3rd Period:

(4:01 — COL Goal): The Avalanche go up 6-3 on a nice shot from Devon Toews, who fires from a distance and through traffic to beat Merzlikins. This goal started to send some for the exits, along with plenty of audible boos from the sellout crowd.

(5:49 — COL Goal; Elvis Yanked): Miles Wood scores to extend Colorado's lead to 7-3. Elvis shatters his stick in anger and heads to the bench for a new one but instead heads down the tunnel at the direction of a red-faced Evason. Merzlikins returned to the bench a couple of minute later, sporting a ballcap.

Stat Chat:

• It's not often that a team is outscored by four goals and have more expected goals than the opponent, but that was the case in this one: Columbus' 3.21 bested the 3.02 put up by the Avalanche. 
   
• Jenner has matched his career high with points in six consecutive games. He has six goals and three assists for nine points in that span. 
   
• Merzlikins has allowed 25 goals in his last five starts, posting an .846 save percentage in those starts.

Up Next:

The Blue Jackets head to Ontario for a weekend back-to-back: they'll face the Toronto Maple Leafs for a 7 p.m. faceoff Saturday night before a 5 p.m. puck-drop Sunday in Ottawa against the Senators.