Elvis Merzļikins | Foto: NHL
In the National Hockey League (NHL), the first game after a long break was played tonight by Latvian goalkeeper Blue Jackets" suffer a terrible collapse (VIDEO)”>Elvis Merzlikins, who in his return match stood dry and helped Blue Jackets smash Carolina’s Hurricanes 6-0.
Merzlikin missed the previous five games due to injury, but returned to the Columbus goal tonight and played a great game. The Latvian goalkeeper repulsed 31 of the 31 opponents’ shots and for the second time in the season kept his goal intact.
For the first time this year, Merzlikin was unbeaten this season in the match against the Jets of Winnipeg on November 24, when he dealt with the throws of 36 opponents. The Latvian played the ninth dry game of his NHL career. In addition, Elvis won the first victory in 2022.
The Swedish striker Emil Bemstrem took the lead in the Blue Jackets in the ninth minute (1-0), but in the middle of the regular time, Russia’s Yegor Chinakov doubled the visitors’ lead to 2-0. In the last third, Columbus threw four more discs into the opponent’s fortress.
“Blue Jackets” scored three goals in a 67-second interval, with Finnish striker Patrik Lain accurate, Chinakov scoring the second goal in the match and Koll Silinger also defeating the opponent’s goalkeeper – 5: 0. In the 55th minute, Jack Roslovich delivered another puck to the Hurricanes Fortress and reached 6-0.
Columbus won their second win in the last three games tonight, but it was only the team’s second success in six matches this year. Meanwhile, Carolina suffered a second loss in a row. Before that, Hurricanes had a series of five victories.
With 35 points won in 35 games, “Blue Jackets” takes tenth place in the Eastern Conference. Caroline, on the other hand, is in third place in the Eastern Conference with 50 points from 34 matches. Hurricanes mentions New York’s Rangers, who have won the same number of points in three matches.
Columbus will play the next game in two days (January 16), when he will meet the Florida Vice Panthers, the vice-leader of the league, at 1:00. It is very possible that in this match “Blue Jackets” will be scored by Merzlikin.
