Merzlikins Struggles Early; Blue Jackets Drop Fourth Straight

Boone Jenner(4), Dante Fabbro(2), and Dmitri Voronkov(12) scored for Columbus, while Jet Greaves made 21 stops in relief of a pulled Elvis Merzlikins in a 6-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators. 

This game got ugly in a hurry, and there was no coming back from it. When David Perron and Drake Batherson scored 1:13 seconds apart in the first, it was ok, no big deal, right? But when Tim Stützle scored on the power play with around five minutes to go in the first, Dean Evason had seen enough. Evason, who admittedly doesn't like to pull goalies, yanked Elvis Merzlikins after giving up his third goal of the period. Merzlikins did not look comfortable at all in the 15 minutes he played. 

When Jet Greaves left the bench to head to the crease, the fans inside Nationwide Arena gave a loud applause. It was hard to tell whether they were happy Greaves was coming in or Merzlikins was leaving. 

Greaves came in cold and played well for the remainder of the first and for the first 17:59 of the second. Dante Fabbro would score early in the period, and Dmitri Voronkov put in another eight minutes in while on the power play to make it 4-3. The Jackets were mounting a comeback, and there was nothing the Sens could do about it. Nobody told that to Tim Stützle though. With 2:01 left in the second period, Stützle gathered a loose puck tucked under Greaves' pads to make it a 5-3 game. For some reason, Columbus vacated the area around Greaves, which allowed Stützle to jam his stick behind Jet to score. 

That was it for the Blue Jackets. The Senators shut down the rest of the game and didn't allow Columbus too many chances. This was not a good game for Columbus, who has now dropped four straight games. 

Zach Werenski Quotes

• "We have to win hockey games. It's as simple as that. We're letting it slip. We're falling behind, and it's on us as players in this room to correct it."
• "I just told him (Elvis) to stay positive. It is what it is. I don't want people to think it's his fault. We're allowing guys to get to those areas to get clean looks on him."
• "We're not singling him out. This is a full team thing. He has our full support. Everyone in this room has everyone's back and we're a team."

Final Stats

Player Stats

• Boone Jenner scored his 4th goal and recorded his 8th assist after missing 14 games. Per the CBJ, Jenner collected his fourth multi-point effort of the season with a goal and assist. His assist was the 192nd of his NHL career (203-192-395, 758 GP), tying Nick Foligno for the fourth-most in franchise history. Jenner has now tallied 10-5-15 in 27 career games against Ottawa, including 6-3-9 in his last 11 overall and has 4-1-5 in four of his past five at Nationwide Arena after tonight.
• Dante Fabbro scored his 2nd goal of the year.
• Dmitri Voronkov scored his 12th goal of the season.
• Zach Werenski recorded his 22nd and 23rd assists. Per the CBJ, He's collected his 11th multi-point (5th multi-assist) effort of the season with 0-2-2. He has now collected points in nine consecutive home games dating back to Oct. 29 (5-11-16), tied for the fifth-longest home points streak in club history. The blueliner skated in his 598th career game tonight, surpassing David Savard for the most among defensemen in franchise history. He has 4-17-21 with six multi-point efforts in 20 career matchups against the Senators, including assists in 10 of his last 11 games overall (0-14-14) and stretched his home points streak against the club to eight games (2-9-11).
• Kirill Marchenko recorded his 16th assist.
• Adam Fantilli got his 10th assist.
• Kent Johnson picked up his 4th assist.
• Jet Greaves made 21 saves in relief.
• Elvis Merzlikins gave up 3 goals on 5 shots.

Team Stats

• The Jackets power play went 1/1.
• The Columbus PK stopped 1 of 2 Sens man advantages.
• Columbus won 42.2% of the faceoffs - 27/64
• The Blue Jackets had 23 hits.

Up Next: The Jackets are back at home to play the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday. 

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