Columbus Blue Jackets @ Montreal Canadians: 3/25/23 Game Recap

First and foremost, welcome back to Elvis Merzlikins. Tonight was his first start after going home to Latvia due to his Grandmother passing. In a pregame interview (on CBJ Radio), he admitted that he didn't have ice to skate on while on that trip, so the gym for a few days was the best he could do. Merzlikins is still getting back into his groove, and this showed tonight. However, I have every faith he'll get back to his skilled goaltending, if not this season, then start fresh in the next. Now, let's recap this game, 5TH Line. 

This game would start off strong for the Blue Jackets. Lane Pederson would add his third goal to his season at 1:32. Kent Johnson would continue to rack up points, gaining his twenty-third assist with the primary one on Pederson's goal. The secondary assist would become Jack Roslovic's thirty-second. Sadly, this lead was not to last; M. Hoffman would tie the game at 1-1 as the clock struck 3:39. J. Ylonen would then score at 9:43, giving his Canadians their first lead of the night. Then, an odd moment would happen at 18:00, as the net for the Canadians would be knocked off, and a puck from Kirill Marchenko would appear to go in. After review, this is a good goal, and give him his nineteenth this season. He needs twenty to tie Pierre-Luc Dubois's Rookie record and twenty-one to make his own, so he's getting close! Andrew Peeke would tack on his sixth assist of the season. Gavin Bayreuther would add his tenth. This would end the period with a 2-2 tie, and the Canadians would come out for Period 2 with an agenda to win. 

At 0:13, R. Harvey-Pinard would score his first goal of the night (remember his name) because he'd score again at 7:13, too. This would raise the Canadians to a 4-2 lead. That score would go up to 5 at 13:08, thanks to a goal from B. Gallagher. Then, just a few minutes later, at 16:42, R. Harvy-Pinard would serve up a hat trick tonight for his home crowd. The Period would end with a stunning 6-2 Canadians lead after the game had been tied at 2-2. Elvis Merzlikins would also be taken out of the net due to injury and releaved by Michael Hutchinson after roughly that sixth goal for the Canadians; he'd also start Period 3 and finish out this game. 

Period 3 would see two more goals, one from A. Belzile at 11:48 and another from N. Suzuki at 13:49. The Blue Jackets wouldn't be able to make anything happen this Period, and the Canadians would cruise to an 8-2 home win. (Ouch for us.)

A back-to-back is hard enough when it's black and white, but this one wasn't straightforward. First, last night we lost Forward Mathiew Olivier and Defenseman Erik Gudbranson. As a result, we had to call up players from the Cleveland Monsters who had been away for some time. Also, as I said in my intro, Elvis Merzlikins last played some time ago, which also matters. It's a tough pill to swallow, but that's how the game came out. 

Looking onward, Tuesday will be our next game; it's on the road and in one of the most challenging arenas to win in, too, Madison Square Garden. Yes, it's time to visit MSG one last time this season, and the puck drop is set for 7:00 PM. Our last time there went well, Tarasov was in the net, and we won! So, we'll have to see what this Blue Jackets team can do this time around. I'm still hoping for a solid finish this season and a high 2023 Draft Pick. If there are any updates to the roster, I'll post them to my social media accounts. 

Go CBJ!