Columbus Blue Jackets fans were probably already frustrated that the NHL season had to pause right when their squad was torching the competition, but that vexation briefly turned to anxiety during Thursday’s Winter Olympics matchup between the United States and Latvia. The underdogs pulled out goalie Elvis Merzlikins at the beginning of the third period, leaving people to speculate on his condition.
Fortunately, the 31-year-old Latvian is feeling fine. The change had to do with the complexion of the game rather than anything health related. Merzlikins fully supported the decision.
“He said himself it was to change the energy and he agreed,” NHL.com’s Dan Rosen reported after Latvia’s 5-1 loss. “So nothing to be worried about Blue Jackets fans.”
Columbus is 11-1 since Jan. 11 and is now only four points behind the Boston Bruins for the second Wild Card slot in the Eastern Conference. Recently appointed head coach Rick Bowness, who has sparked this unforeseen revival, surely wants to maintain as much roster continuity as possible coming out of the Olympics break. He also wants his netminder to be sharp.
Merzlikins allowed four goals on 32 shots versus Team USA. Two successful challenges took two more off the board and prevented the damage from being worse. Latvia will trust him to shake off the rough showing and rebound against Germany on Saturday. When the global showdown concludes, the Blue Jackets (29-20-7) hope they will have a healthy and locked-in goalie to play behind the young and impressive Jet Greaves.
Elvis Merzlikins is 11-8-1 with an .888 save percentage and 3.49 goals against average this season.