ST. PAUL, Minn. – Not long ago, the Blue Jackets would have crumbled in a game like the one they won Oct. 11 at Grand Casino Arena.
After building a 2-0 lead against the Minnesota Wild, things began unraveling in a whirlwind of penalties, shots and power-play goals. Eight penalties, to be exact, and it felt like the Blue Jackets played a man short most of the game.
The Wild (1-1-0) tied it 2-2 in the second period and stayed within striking distance most of the game, but all four of their goals were on power plays. Penalties were the biggest reason Minnesota stayed in the game, but the Blue Jackets (1-1-0) sealed their win with quick response goals of their own. Minnesota learned what other teams did last season − that Columbus can push back.
This time, however, the Blue Jackets did it on the road for an odd-yet-impressive 7-4 victory to send a packed building home unhappy.
“We’ve definitely grown,” Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski said. “We’re (still) a top-five youngest team in the league, but our young guys are three or four years in now. So, we’re not really young in that way. We just keep playing our game. No matter what happened tonight, it seemed like we just got right back to it.”
Coming off a strong road showing to open the season with a tough-luck 2-1 loss Oct. 9 in Nashville, the Blue Jackets (1-1-0) now head back for their own home opener against the New Jersey Devils on Oct. 13 at Nationwide Arena.
Columbus Blue Jackets‘ Marchenko edges Minnesota Wild’s Kaprizov in battle of Kirills
The Blue Jackets have the lowest payroll in the NHL at $81.3 million and the most room to work with under the league’s $95.5 million salary-cap ceiling.
The reason for that is a looming group of pending free agents over the next three years that could present a daunting puzzle for Don Waddell, the team’s president/general manager, to solve.
Heading the list of rising stars who are trending toward skyrocketing salaries is Kirill Marchenko, a right wing who’s only 25 and will make $3.85 million this season and next, when he’ll be a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights.
Why bring this up in the second game of the second year on Marchenko’s deal?
Well, it’s simple. Marchenko got the better of Wild star Kirill Kaprizov, barely, by scoring three goals for his fourth career hat trick. Kaprizov led his team with three points on two goals and one assist, all on power plays, but was also –3 in plus/minus.
Kaprizov is in the final year of a contract that pays him $9 million per year and recently signed an eight-year extension worth $136 million. That will send his salary skyrocketing to $17 million next season to make him the highest paid player in the league, making more than Edmonton Oilers stars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews.
Marchenko’s offensive progression starting his fourth NHL season compared to Kaprizov starting his sixth isn’t quite apples to apples yet, but it’s close. Marchenko is trending toward a gigantic pay raise in two years, whether it’s from the Blue Jackets or from an offer sheet from another team, and he’s just one of their burgeoning young stars bound for riches over the next three years.
Adam Fantilli, Dmitri Voronkov, Kent Johnson, Cole Sillinger and Denton Mateychuk will need new deals, too, along with pending free agent veterans Boone Jenner and Charlie Coyle.
Elvis Merzlikins comes up big for Columbus Blue Jackets in season debut
Allowing four goals, all on power plays, is something that ordinarily might be looked at as a rough night for an NHL goalie.
Elvis Merzlikins gets a free pass from that logic this time, after facing eight Wild power plays and 16 of Minnesota’s 52 shots during those man-advantage stretches. He came up with several clutch stops for the Blue Jackets in all situations, drawing praise from teammates and Evason alike for the effort.
According to Natural Stat Trick, Merzlikins stopped seven of nine high-danger chances, 13 of 14 medium-danger chances and 24 of 25 shots from long distance. Not bad for his first action of the season.
Merzlikins faced 52 shots, which is the third-most he’s seen in a game, trailing only the New Jersey Devils’ 53 shots in a 7-1 victory over the Blue Jackets on Oct. 30, 2022, and the Calgary Flames’ 56 shots in a 6-0 victory Jan. 26, 2022.
Following Jet Greaves’ sharp performance to open the season in Nashville, Merzlikins showed why the Blue Jackets have potential for a strong goaltending tandem.
“It was real solid when we needed him to be,” Evason said. “There’s no controversy (with Merzlikins and Greaves). They’re competing their butts off. Elvis did it tonight, Jet did it in Game 1 and now we’re going to have some decisions to make (before the home opener Oct. 13).
Columbus Blue Jackets commit too many penalties against Minnesota Wild
The Blue Jackets made some history they’d like to avoid in the future. It was the first time they’d ever won on the road when their opponent scored four power-play goals. The Wild went 4 for 8 to make the Blue Jackets pay for taking eight penalties, and they know that’s not a recipe for long-term success.
Four of the calls were delay-of-game infractions, including three for sending the puck out of play from their own zone. The fourth was a failed coaching challenge after the Wild’s first goal, which Evason and his staff felt was similar to a play in Nashville that prompted a successful review for the Predators. That one overturned a key goal by Mathieu Olivier that would’ve given the Blue Jackets a 2-1 lead.
The overhead angle of Matt Boldy’s goal to cut the Jackets’ lead to 2-1 on a Wild power play in the second showed Merzlikins’ right leg contact Blue Jackets defenseman Dante Fabbro, who was bumped into his goalie by Minnesota’s Joel Eriksson Ek.
No other players appeared to contact Merzlikins, who fell backward before Zach Werenski accidentally tapped the puck to Boldy for a tap-in goal in the crease. Evason felt the play mirrored what happened in Nashville, when Olivier was ruled to have interfered with goalie Juuse Saros in the crease. The NHL’s ruling on the Blue Jackets’ challenge called the contact with Merzlikins incidental and stated that it occurred in the white paint outside the crease, which is allowed.
“We were pretty confident,” Evason said. “But again, we’ve got to go back to, you know, you’d better be 100% and we thought it was not 100% the other night (in Nashville) and we probably shouldn’t have called it because it probably wasn’t 100% here.”
One thing that is 100% is the need for the Blue Jackets to lower their trips to the penalty box.
Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Erik Gudbranson injured
The Blue Jackets played all but one shift of the third period without veteran defenseman Erik Gudbranson, who was injured late in the second period on a hit by Wild forward Marcus Foligno.
Gudbranson came back out for the start of the third but quickly left the game with an upper-body injury. Evason didn’t have anything further about it after the game, except to say the Blue Jackets “didn’t like the hit.”
Should Gudbranson miss upcoming games, defenseman Jake Christiansen will draw into the lineup to make his season debut.
Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.social