Sean Monahan(17), Zach Aston-Reese(5), and Boone Jenner(6) scored the goals for Columbus, and Elvis Merzļikins gave up seven goals on 28 Avs shots to secure a 7-3 CBJ loss on Thursday. 

Elvis Merzļikins didn't play well, and he knows it. Because he didn't play well, he was pulled from his first game this season. Head Coach Dean Evason doesn't like pulling goalies from games, but with Elvis smashing his stick after giving up his 7th goal of the night, Evason decided to pull him from the game. 

But it wasn't just Elvis who didnt play well; in fact, it was just about everyone from the blueline back. As a whole, Columbus didn't play all that badly. They just couldn't handle the Avs and gave them way too much to work with. 

Columbus was mauled by Colorado on Thursday night. 

Dean Evason said after the game, "We don't think we gave them a ton in tonight's hockey game, but systematically, we got away from some stuff for sure. I'm very concerned that we're not dialing in to keep it out of our net."

Zach Werenski said, "We have to do our work and win hockey games, and we haven't done that consistently these last 14, 15 games. I think other teams' scores are irrelevant. It sucks that (Montreal) gets a win and we lose. It definitely makes it harder, but at the end of the day, it falls on us to get wins, and we're not doing it."

Sean Monahan said after the game, "Kind of did it to ourselves. Gave them looks they probably shouldn't have had. I don't think we played a terrible game. It's unfortunate. We have to bounce back from that right away."

Final Stats

Player Stats

• Sean Monahan scored his 17th goal.
• Zach Aston-Reese scored his 5th goal of the season.
• Boone Jenner scored his 6th goal.
• Dante Fabbro got his 16th assist.
• Dmitri Voronkov recorded his 23rd assist.
• Jack Johnson got his 6th assist of the season.
• Kent Johnson tallied his 28th assist on the year.
• Elvis Merzļikins made 21 saves on 28 shots.

Team Stats

• The Jackets power play went 0/3 on the night.
• The Columbus PK stopped 1 of the two Colorado power plays.
• Columbus won 50.6% of the faceoffs.

Up Next: The Blue Jackets travel to Toronto to face the Maple Leafs on Saturday. 

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