The “Blue Jackets” recognized the superiority of the “Devils” of New Jersey with a score of 1:7 (0:1, 1:3, 0:3) and suffered their third defeat in a row.
The “Devils” made 53 shots on Merzlikin’s goal, while the visitors responded with only 21 shots.
The home team tested Merzlikin’s vigilance a couple of times already in the first minute, but beat the Latvian for the first time less than three minutes before the end of the first period, when Fabian Setterlund stood out with an accurate shot without stopping the puck. In the first period, Merzlikin had to withstand 20 opponents’ shots, while at the end of the second court, Viteks Vaneček had to catch only five pucks.
In the fourth minute of the second period, the “Devils” hockey players upset Merzlikin two more times. First, Niko Hisiširs sent the puck under the glove of the Latvian goalkeeper, but then Ryan Graves stood out with a powerful shot. Three minutes later, for the first time in the match, Vaneček also took the puck out of his goal, which was beaten by Yegor Chinakhov.
With 22 seconds left in the period, the Blue Jackets lost the puck at their blue line, allowing John Marino to make it 4-1 for the Devils. Both teams were playing four-on-four at that time, because in the episode before that, at the Blue Jackets’ goal, Nathan Bastians received a two-minute penalty for hitting Merzlikin with a stick, while the Latvian goalkeeper received an equally large penalty for rudeness.
Merzlikin had several good episodes in the Blue Jackets’ goal at the beginning of the third period, however, the opponents realized their oppressive advantage when Jonas Siegenthaler made it 5-1 in the fourth minute. In the continuation of the period, Jespers Brat and Miles Wood also scored a puck in the visitors’ goal.
Prior to this match, Merzlikin had two wins in six matches, allowed an average of 4.3 innings and shot 86.3%.
On Sunday, Daniil Tarasov was on the reserve, but Jonas Korpisalo was recalled from the American Hockey League (AHL), who was not on the list of participants for the game. The Finnish goalkeeper, who has recovered from the injury, took part in the AHL match on Saturday and saved 38 shots.
The Blue Jackets are last among the 16 Eastern Conference teams with six points in ten games. “Devils” 12 points in nine matches gives them second place.
The Columbus team will play their next games next Friday and Saturday, when they will meet the Stanley Cup winner Colorado Avalanche twice in Tampere.
