The Blue Jackets headed to Long Island on Sunday for their first matchup with the New York Islanders this season. After a really slow start, they scratched their way back into it; but unfortunately finished the game the way they started.
The Islanders came out flying. Right from the opening faceoff, they were quicker to every puck and creating offense seemingly at will. Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins made several saves early, but was unable to stop them all.
The Islanders broke the ice at 5:53 of the period. Just 10 seconds into their first power-play, rookie phenom Matthew Schaefer fired a shot through traffic that eluded Merzlikins to make it a 1-0 game.
They used that momentum to continue to dominate the rest of the period. They put 18 shots on goal in the first, allowing just 3 at the other end - none of them dangerous.
But Merzlikins stood in there and gave his team a chance, giving up just the one goal. The Jackets would have been blown out of the building without his play, but they were still in this game.
It took them a while, but they finally woke up late in the second period. Once they started playing in the Islanders end a little bit, they were able to get on the board.
Adam Fantili bought some time and found Miles Wood in front of the net. Wood was given an easy tap-in to tie the game at 1, 15:21 into the second period.
This goal sparked the Blue Jackets, and they were able to at least hold serve with the Islanders for most of the rest of this game. They out-shot the home team 14-10 in the second period, and just needed to win the third to take an important 2 points away.
Much of the third period was a stalemate, with neither team wanting to flinch and make a mistake. The Blue Jackets stuck within their system for much of it, and their patience paid off.
Denton Mateychuk gave the team its first lead of the night at 12:10 of the third. He was hit by a shot from Kirill Marchenko, but was able to bang home the rebound on the backhand.
The Jackets appeared to take a 2 goal lead with just a few minutes left in the game, but this one was quickly waived off as Charlie Coyle had run into David Rittich.
Head coach Dean Evason opted not to challenge the call out of fear of going shorthanded - a decision that would turn out to be very poor.
I think the Jackets had a chance to win that challenge, as Coyle was clearly pushed into the crease. Instead of a 2 goal lead, they would have to try to defend a slim 2-1 game. Ultimately, they failed. The wheels came off quickly and spectacularly.
Schaefer scored his second of the night at 18:53 to tie the game up. This one deflected off of Zach Werenski's stick and went right over Merzlikins' shoulder.
Then, the Islanders quickly came back down the ice and took a 3-2 lead just 29 seconds later. The Jackets stopped skating and made it very easy for them to fire multiple high danger chances on the CBJ net.
Ultimately, Simon Holmstrom was able to poke home a puck that squirted through Merzlikins with 38 seconds left, leading the Islanders to victory.
Three Takeaways
1. Elvis Merzlikins. Elvis was the lone positive for the Blue Jackets tonight. He made 36 saves and gave this team a chance to win a game that they had no business being close in.
2. Dominated on special teams. Again. The Blue Jackets had 4 power-plays. The Islanders had 2. The Jackets were -1 on special teams tonight. How many years has this been a problem now?
3. They deserved to lose. The Jackets did not play a good hockey game tonight. They spent a lot of the game puck watching, and the third Islanders goal was a direct example of that.
Simply put, if not for Elvis Merzlikins absolutely standing on his head, this was probably a 5 or 6 to-2 win. The Islanders were the better team. We don't have to like the way it ended, but they deserved the two points.
The Jackets are off until Wednesday night, when they will head to Calgary to face the Flames. Hopefully they can reflect on this loss and find a way to have a better effort in front of their goaltender.