{"id":418908,"date":"2026-01-21T01:24:37","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T01:24:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/418908\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T01:24:37","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T01:24:37","slug":"columbus-blue-jackets-elvis-merzlikins-takes-odd-in-game-water-break","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/418908\/","title":{"rendered":"Columbus Blue Jackets’ Elvis Merzlikins takes odd in-game water break"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just when Rick Bowness<\/a> felt he had seen everything in the NHL, the veteran coach<\/a> inherited goalie Elvis Merzlikins with the Blue Jackets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Merzlikins has a unique personality, even when compared to his oft-enigmatic goaltending peers, and an unorthodox decision during an intense 3-on-3 overtime Jan. 17 in Pittsburgh<\/a> was a first for both Bowness and Blue Jackets president\/general manager Don Waddell<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Seconds after calmly making his fifth of six saves in overtime, Merzlikins stood up, saw Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski circling with the puck and reached for his water bottle. As Werenski looped behind his net to start a breakout, Merzlikins squeezed the bottle for refreshment.<\/p>\n

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\u201cDon pointed that out to me,\u201d Bowness said after practice Jan. 19 at Nationwide Arena. \u201cI said that to the guys today \u2026 I said, \u2018I\u2019ve been around the league 50 years. I have never seen that.\u2019 So, we took a look at it, and there he is drinking water as Z\u2019s going behind the net with the puck.\u201d<\/p>\n

Merzlikins didn\u2019t think it was a big deal. He was calm and confident, not to mention parched, after stopping Penguins forward Brett Kulak on a rush up the right wing with 2:50 left in overtime.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw Z with the puck, going to the back of the net,\u201d he said. \u201cI knew there was going to be a breakout. Yes, I was really thirsty, but I just felt confident. There\u2019s nothing that can happen. They are breaking out. [Kirill Marchenko], I saw he was [gaining] speed, so I had those two or three seconds time of drinking quick two sips and that\u2019s it. No big deal.<\/p>\n

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“Trust your teammates. I completely trusted my teammates, and all good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Blue<\/p>\n

Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins takes a water break during a game on Feb. 23, 2024.<\/p>\n

Merzlikins made 29 saves before stopping three of four Pittsburgh shootout attempts to help the Jackets push their winning streak to four games with a 4-3 shootout victory. Two of the saves he made in overtime came against Penguins star Evgeni Malkin from close range.<\/p>\n

He earned a couple of squirts of water.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, you can\u2019t make that stuff up, right?\u201d Bowness said. \u201cThat\u2019s trust. We\u2019ve talked a lot about trusting each other and being connected? That\u2019s trust. Gotta love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger<\/a> can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com<\/a> and @BrianHedger.bsky.social<\/a><\/p>\n

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Elvis Merzlikins on in-game water break: ‘I trust my teammates’<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just when Rick Bowness felt he had seen everything in the NHL, the veteran coach inherited goalie Elvis…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5108],"tags":[3644,5180,3592,51730,897,230,5179,7819,1495,5,1944,4,1469,12090,2566],"class_list":["post-418908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-columbus-blue-jackets","tag-blue-jackets","tag-bluejackets","tag-brett-kulak","tag-brian-hedger","tag-columbus","tag-columbus-blue-jackets","tag-columbusbluejackets","tag-elvis-merzlikins","tag-evgeni-malkin","tag-hockey","tag-kirill-marchenko","tag-nhl","tag-pittsburgh","tag-rick-bowness","tag-zach-werenski"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115930482399909652","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}