Feisty Blue Jackets tie game late, push past Minnesota Wild in shootout

In college football, this would be called "a program win.”

In the NHL, the Blue Jackets will settle for calling their 3-2 comeback victory over the Minnesota Wild in a shootout Friday simply "game no. 59" along with another example of growth. Despite a litany of reasons favoring the Wild (34-19-4), a team hunting a playoff spot in the Western Conference, the Jackets hung around long enough for Zach Werenski to tie it 2-2 with 30.4 seconds left on a 6-on-5 goal.

That forced overtime and eventually a shootout that Blue Jackets rookie Yegor Chinakhov decided with a second-round goal.

“It’s good for our group to win games like that,” said Werenski, whose shot through traffic beat Wild goalie Kaapo Kahkonen after Minnesota’s Marcus Foligno injured Jakub Voracek with an ugly knee-on-knee hit that wasn’t penalized. “We’ve been winning some high-scoring games. It seems like most nights we’re filling the net pretty good, but as of late it’s dried up a little bit and we had to dig deep find a way to win tonight.”

They also overcame Voracek’s injury plus an additional key injury that ended Patrik Laine’s night in overtime on a knee-on-knee collision with Minnesota defenseman Jonas Brodin. Preparing for the game was a challenge, too, after a mechanical issue grounded the Jackets' charter plane Thursday night in New York after a 6-0 loss to the Islanders.

The Blue Jackets (29-27)-3) didn’t get back to Columbus until noon Friday and weren’t able to prepare for a game as usual. It didn't matter thanks to their ability to keep the Wild just one goal ahead of them in the final two periods.

“We’ve gone through some tough stretches and we know it, but I’ve been real impressed with how some of these games … maybe on paper it doesn’t look like a real good matchup, but they continue to battle,” Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen said. “They push each other. They continue to believe they can win a game and most nights we’re in it.”

That was the case against the Wild, too, in a physical, low-scoring game that finished as a thriller.

Yegor Chinakhov scored in the second round of the shootout to decide the second point and also scored the game's first goal with 6:29 left in the first period. Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello responded with goals to put Minnesota up 2-1, which set the stage for Werenski’s late heroics.

Neither team scored during an exciting 3-on-3 overtime, which ended deadlocked at 2-2 and led to Chinakhov's shootout winner — his second this season. Elvis Merzlikins (36 saves) was sharp in the Jackets' net, stopping all three Minnesota shooters to end a four-game winless skid at four.

It was the 19th comeback victory of the season for Columbus.

“We’re down a goal (and) we didn’t sell the farm to try and get back in it too early,” Blue Jackets center Sean Kuraly said. “We stayed patient. It just shows (that) sometimes it takes until the last 30 seconds of the game 6-on-5. And if we’re down 3-1, we lose that. There’s no chance we win that (game). We don’t give up a goal, we stayed strong, Elvis played great ... we gave ourselves a chance. That’s all we did. And it was awesome to get the win.”

Blue Jackets lose Voracek, Laine in knee-to-knee collisions against Minnesota Wild

Looming as large as the win itself for the Blue Jackets were apparent knee injuries that knocked Voracek and Laine out of the game in the late stages.

Voracek, who’s second on the team with 43 points on three goals and 40 assists, was on the receiving end of a brutal open-ice hit by Minnesota’s Marcus Foligno with 49.6 seconds left in regulation. Laine, third in scoring for the Blue Jackets with 22-20-42, left 1:12 into OT after colliding with Jonas Brodin.

Larsen didn’t have a medical update on either forward after the game, but neither returned to the game after leaving.

"Just hoping for the best here,” Larsen said.

Each hit resulted in hard knee-on-knee contact that caused the injuries as the Blue Jackets forwards tried to cut around Wild players.

Voracek had the puck with a full head of steam coming through the neutral zone when he was laid out right in front of the Blue Jackets’ bench while trying to dart inside of Foligno – the younger brother of former Columbus captain Nick Foligno.

The Wild forward led with his left side, trying to recalibrate the hit after Voracek cut sharply inside of him, and that sent Foligno’s bent left knee straight into Voracek’s left knee in a violent collision that sent the Blue Jackets forward crashing to the ice. Foligno did make contact with the upper body, but not until after the knee-on-knee collision hyperextended Voracek’s knee backward at the point of contact.

Voracek struggled to his feet and hobbled straight down the tunnel to the locker room, returning only to watch the game unfold from the bench. Neither referee called a penalty, as Pierre Lambert and Kyle Rehman watched the play unfold from long-distance vantage points at opposite ends of the ice.

Larsen, his players and Blue Jackets fans were incensed, but complaints were to no avail. Larsen gave the officiating crew an earful, but restrained himself with reporters.

“Yep, yeah, it’s a tough hit,” he said.

Laine was then injured in overtime on a knee-to-knee hit, attempting to cut inside of Brodin’s check and his left knee pushed backward by the defenseman’s right knee. Like Voracek, he immediately limped to the bench and went back to the locker room for treatment.

Losing even one of them would be a major setback for the Blue Jackets. Losing both could be catastrophic for their offensive attack.

Stay tuned.

Zach Werenski scores another clutch goal for Blue Jackets

Zach Werenski has made a habit out of scoring big goals throughout his six-year NHL career.

The equalizer he scored against the Wild was merely the latest, giving the Jackets their second tying goal in a week with less than a minute left. Voracek scored the first one last Saturday with two seconds left to force OT against the Boston Bruins on the night Rick Nash’s number 61 was retired.

This was Werenski’s 10th goal and seventh scored in the third period. His first five goals of this season were scored in third periods and the sharpshooting defenseman has scored three with less than 10 minutes left in regulation. According to Hockey-Reference, 53.3% of Werenski’s 75 career goals (40) were scored in the third period or overtime, including 21 with less than 10 minutes left and five in OTs.

“Right where I shot it is where I was aiming,” said Werenski, whose shot went past a traffic jam in front of the net and skipped off Kahkonen’s blocker into the top left corner. “He couldn’t really see anything. There were defensemen, there were two forwards down there. I had a lane from where I was and I just tried putting it there. Our guys did a great job getting in front of him, where he couldn’t see it and it found its way in.”

Elvis Merzlikins comes through for Blue Jackets by quieting his mind

This has not been the kind of season Merzlikins planned to have after signing a five-year contract extension at the outset of training camp.

Rather than contending for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie, the 27-year old Latvian netminder has struggled through injury setbacks, illnesses and a lack of consistency. This was his career-high 20th win, which he got with 36 saves and three more in the shootout, but Merzlikins is still saddled with a bloated 3.42 goals-against average and pedestrian .903 save percentage.

Prior to his start, he made a decision that might help reset his season for the final 23 games.

“I was worrying too much on a lot of stuff, statistics, my technique and how to get better and better and better and better, and … quite honestly, I got tired (of working) my ass off and I don’t get my results, don’t get results that I want. So, I just … I’m not saying I gave up, but I’m just not going to think anymore. I’m just going to go out there and play hockey. Have fun.”

Merzlikins, who will turn 28 in April, is a veteran by age. He’s still in the early stages of development for an NHL goaltender, logging just his 99th appearance and 91st career start since coming over from Switzerland in 2019.

“This is a learning process,” Merzlikins said. “(I’ve been) here a lot of years (with) this team in this organization, which I’m super happy (about). I have great coach in my goalie coach (Manny Legace), who I’m working with, but there is a lot to learn. I’m not saying I am a kid, but I am a kid in this league. I’m just three years here … so there is a lot to learn.”

Blue Jackets rookie Yegor Chinakhov flashes against Minnesota Wild with two more ‘Yegor bombs’

Chinakhov, the 21st overall pick in the 2020 draft, had another night that made Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen and his scouting staff look brilliant for taking him that high. Chinakhov has impressive speed and quickness, but those qualities are overshadowed by the rockets he launches with booming one-timers and wristed lasers.

They've been dubbed 'Yegor bombs' by radio play-by-play broadcaster Bob McElligott, a reference to popular alcoholic shots with a similar name, and it's easy to see why.

Chinakhov's goal to cap a power play in the first against the Wild was a sizzling wrister clocked at 87.5 mph that beat Kahkonen to the far side. He also had a strong take to the net that nearly ended the game in OT and beat Kahkonen between the pads with another wrister for the only goal of the shootout.

“I was talking to ‘Booner’ maybe a week ago in practice,” Werenski said, referring to captain Boone Jenner. “We were working on power play and I’d went on the ice with Chinakhov before it and was working with (skills coach Kenny McCudden) and him. I told Booner, ‘When he really figures this league out, it’s going to be scary for other teams,’ because I think you can see the flashes of it. … It’s exciting, the future he has ahead of him. We’ve seen glimpses of it and I think his ceiling’s sky high. So, it’s fun to see.”

Blue Jackets match Minnesota Wild in intensity, physicality

After losing 6-0 to the Islanders on Thursday, the Blue Jackets learned that a mechanical issue with the plane they’re chartered to New York had an issue and couldn’t be fixed in time to get them back to Columbus that night.

They spent another night there, flew home Friday and didn’t land until mid-day – which threw a wrench into players’ usual routines on game days. Few things irritate hockey players more than having their game-day routines altered, especially by something like that, so the Jackets went into the game in a foul mood.

The Wild did, too, after having a raucous line brawl Thursday night in Detroit that left equipment strewn about the ice at the Red Wings’ Little Caesar’s Arena. Minnesota is also built for rough play and post-whistle dustups by having a lot of size and strength on the roster —led by Foligno and Jordan Greenway.

The Jackets aren’t nearly as big or gritty, but they didn’t shy away from contact against the Wild. It helped them keep the score close enough for Werenski’s goal to tie it late, which was an effective response to Foligno’s hit.

“There was some anger in that game,” said Kuraly, who was in the middle of the fray most of the game. “We didn’t have a choice but to step in, in that fight, and (there was) maybe a hit we didn’t like … and the best response is to put it in the back of the net, get two points and ‘See ya later.’”

Larsen was proud of the effort.

“We played a good hockey team,” he said. “That team, they’ve got size, they’ve got four deep lines, they’ve got a real strong back end and they make you work. It was a heck of a game for our guys. Everything we went through just to get home … yeah, this was a big effort.”

bhedger@dispatch.com

@BrianHedger

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets grow in gritty comeback win over Wild