COLUMBUS, Ohio _ It was a night of new beginnings, New Year's Eve, and there couldn't have been a better matchup or result Tuesday night at Nationwide Arena.
Sergei Bobrovsky was in one net, wearing the Florida Panthers' uniform he chose last summer over the Blue Jackets attire he'd worn the previous seven seasons. Elvis, a 25-year old rookie with the last name of "Merzlikins," was in the other net _ looking for his first NHL win in his first career start in the city of Columbus, whose skyline adorns his pads, blocker and glove.
After 36 saves and defenseman Zach Werenski's first career hat trick, Elvis finally left the building a winner _ helping the Blue Jackets extend the league's longest active point streak to 11 games with a 4-1 victory to send a sellout crowd of 18,977 into 2020 on a happy note.
"You can kind of tell when someone's on their game, and tonight he was on his game," Werenski said of Merzlikins, who made his first start since Dec. 15 in Ottawa and first start since No. 1 goalie Joonas Korpisalo went down with a meniscus tear Sunday. "It was fun to watch. He made some huge saves. They're a good offensive team, and he shut them down, so it was awesome."
Indeed, the Panthers (20-14-5) made Merzlikins work for the win. They peppered the net, outshot the Blue Jackets 37-28 and finished with a massive 73-42 advantage in total shot attempts.
He made 14 saves in the first period, 14 more in the second and eight in the third to cap off his impressive night between the pipes. Merzlikins declined interview requests following the game through a team representative, but did quite a bit of talking with his play.
"In the second period, we struggled so badly just to get out of our end zone," coach John Tortorella said. "I thought that was the most important part of (Merzlikins') game."
Werenski, meanwhile, scored at 4:54 of the first period for a 1-0 lead and tacked on two more in the third _ at 4:13 and 8:04 to give the Blue Jackets a commanding 4-1 lead.
Colton Sceviour tied it 1-1 for Florida at 3:39 of the second, tipping a shot past Merzlikins, but that was all the Panthers got despite controlling the puck for much of the game.
Boone Jenner's eighth goal of the season broke the 1-1 tie at 15:34 of the second, capping a power play, and stood up as the winner on a night that belonged to Merzlikins, Werenski and, to a smaller extent, Bobrovsky, who was loudly cheered during a video tribute in the first.
