Dean Evason wasn’t in the mood to break down how another game the Blue Jackets should’ve won got away.
Still heated from clashing with NHL referees Francis Charron and Brandon Schrader in a 7-6 overtime loss to the Florida Panthers on Dec. 6 at Amerant Bank Arena, the Jackets’ head coach issued a blunt postgame commentary.
“The whole game was a joke,” Evason said. “That’s what I account it to.”
Joke? In what ways?
“Every way,” he said. “Entire game was a joke.”
Evason was careful not to outright blame the officiating for his team blowing three leads for the second straight game, including a 10th blown third period edge, but that was clearly the intonation.
Blue Jackets good, refs bad, no further explanation necessary.
“It’s a joke,” he repeated, “an absolute joke.”
Give him credit for one thing.
That’s exactly what it felt like watching the repeat Stanley Cup champion Panthers erase deficits of 1-0 in the first period, 4-1 in the second and 6-4 in the third before killing a Blue Jackets power play early in overtime and winning on Sam Bennett’s goal with 3.2 seconds left on the clock.
Another gut punch in a season filled with them, and next up is a back-to-back finale Dec. 7 at the Washington Capitals, who top the Metropolitan Division and won the first two games against the Jackets by identical 5-1 margins.
“Our guys are great,” Evason said. “Our guys have no issues. They know what happened. They’ll be good. We’ll play hard. We played hard all night (against the Panthers). We played great. The game was a joke.”
Here are three takeaways:
Failed challenge sends Columbus Blue Jackets into another collapse
The Blue Jackets lost coaching challenges that erased Brendan Gaunce’s goal in the first that would’ve put them up 2-1 and upheld Carter Verhaeghe’s first of two goals in the second to spark the Panthers’ comeback from a 4-1 deficit.
The NHL Situation Room in Toronto called for a review of Gaunce’s goal, which was taken away for a distinct kicking motion. Evason and Gaunce protested, but Panthers coach Paul Maurice could’ve issued a separate challenge for goaltender interference had the kicking motion review not overturned it.
Verhaeghe’s upheld goal in the second was more contentious.
Evason issued a challenge for a missed hand pass by Brad Marchand after scooping his own rebound near the Blue Jackets’ net, which the Blue Jackets felt was a missed play stoppage. The Blue Jackets challenged based on NHL Rule 38.1, which states the following:
“In all coach’s challenge situations, the original call on the ice will be overturned if, and only if, a conclusive and irrefutable determination can be made on the basis of video evidence that the original call on the ice was clearly not correct. If a review is not conclusive and/or there is any doubt whatsoever as to whether the call on the ice was correct, the original call on the ice will be confirmed.”
In other words, the guys who made the call or non-call get to watch replays and use their own judgement to determine whether they got it right or wrong. That might seem like a joke, but the NHL’s rule book is filled with that jargon.
Also comical was the NHL’s official ruling to uphold Verhaeghe’s goal citing an additional rule about hand passes, Rule 79.1, that leaves it entirely up to the “opinion of the on-ice officials” to determine whether an illegal hand pass occurred.
During the play, Marchand got to his own rebound while going around the left post and used the blade to deflect the puck above his head.
That happened above the height of the crossbar, which could’ve been ruled an illegal touch with a high stick, but that wasn’t called. Marchand then touched the puck with a swat of his left hand, dropping it to the ice for teammate Sam Bennett to collect in the corner. Bennett sent it to Marchand, who fed it to former Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones for a shot that Verhaeghe tipped past Merzlikins.
Here’s what NHL Rule 79.1 states:
“A player shall be permitted to stop or ‘bat’ a puck in the air with his open hand, or push it along the ice with his hand, and the play shall not be stopped unless, in the opinion of the on-ice officials, he has directed the puck to a teammate, or has allowed his team to gain an advantage, and subsequently, possession and control of the puck is obtained by a player of the offending team, either directly or deflected off any player or official.”
Charron and Schrader ruled that Marchand deflected the puck with his hand without directing it to Bennett, completely ignoring his illegal high stick touch. The Blue Jackets were assessed a delay-of-game penalty for a failed challenge, and Verhaeghe capped the ensuing power play to pull Florida within a goal at 4-3. Jones then tied it 4-4 on another power play.
Interestingly, NHL referees Wes McCauley and Corey Syvret overturned a Tampa Bay Lightning goal for a hand pass review just two days earlier, ruling Dec. 2 that forward Brandon Hagel’s attempt to protect himself from being struck by the puck was instead a hand pass rather than a deflection.
Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins struggling on penalty kills
Neither goalie had an enjoyable afternoon, but Merzlikins skated away with the worse end of it.
A turnover in the neutral zone at the tail end of overtime gave the Panthers a 2-on-1 rush and Bennett scored the winner with 3.2 seconds left. It was the seventh goal Merzlikins allowed on 40 shots after allowing five in a 6-5 shootout win over the Detroit Red Wings on Dec. 4 at Nationwide Arena.
Detroit went 3-for-5 against the Blue Jackets on power plays before Florida went 2-for-4 two days later.
It’s a tricky thing to assign blame for goals allowed while penalty-killing, since the NHL is filled with elite players and power plays have an inherent advantage with an extra skater or two. One of hockey’s oldest mantras, however, is that good penalty-killing teams need their goalies to be the best penalty killer.
Merzlikins has allowed 15 goals on 72 shots while killing penalties for a .792 penalty-kill save percentage in 12 games, which is tied with three others for 45th among 49 goalies who’ve played at least 10 games. Jet Greaves has allowed seven penalty-kill goals on 57 shots for a .877 penalty-kill save percentage in 16 starts, which is tied with eight others for 10th.
Greaves has faced 15 less power-play shots while playing four more games, which could be a factor in Merzlikins’ lower save percentage on PKs, but he and the Blue Jackets need to figure out how to improve while short-handed with him in net. Merzlikins’ numbers in all other situations are either solid or very good.
Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins pays for risky play
Merzlikins isn’t shy about leaving his net to play pucks, and he often kills developing scoring chances by doing it.
Against Florida, he broke up a potential short-handed breakaway by getting to a puck between the circles and swatting it away to keep the Jackets ahead 6-5, but the Panthers then made him pay for a similar decision on its tying goal.
A stretch pass from Sam Reinhart narly sprung forward Eetu Luostarinen on a mini-breakaway from the Columbus Blue line, but Merzlikins again ventured far out of his net to poked at the puck. The problem was that he didn’t get all of it and the puck dropped in front of Anton Lundell for a quick shot before Merzlikins could get back in his crease.
That goal forced OT and gave the Jackets their 10th blown third-period lead in 28 games.
The play itself put Merzlikins in a tough spot. If he’d stayed in the net, Luostarinen would’ve had a breakaway against him with a full head of steam and the tying goal on his stick. Coming out to play the puck left the net open for what ultimately happened, and that decision had to be made with about one second to think about it.
You still want to be the goalie, kids?
Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Disputed review, blown leads mar Blue Jackets’ OT loss: takeaways
Reporting by Brian Hedger, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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