Elvis Merzļikins And The Columbus Blue Jackets Shut Out The New York Islanders, Earn Third Straight Win At Home

Damon Severson(2) and Justin Danforth(2) scored the goals for the Blue Jackets in the win against the New York Islanders.

But the story of this game was the play of Elvis Merzļikins. The Latvian goaltender stopped all 26 shots he faced, including a couple he made when he had no stick. Elvis hung tough all night and continued his stellar play as the Isles put 21 shots on goal in the final two periods.

Merzļikins has stopped 58 of the last 59 shots he's faced against Edmonton and New York. As he pointed out in his post-game scrum, he came 26.8 seconds away from back-to-back shutouts. There's no denying Elvis is hot right now and playing with some extreme confidence. Wednesday's shutout was the 11th of Elvis' career.

But, let's not take anything away from Semyon Varlamov, who was also exceptional in this game. Until Damon Severson scored on a deflected puck 5:43 into the third, he hadn't given up a goal to that point and looked unbreakable. Going into this game, Semyon Varlamov had a record of 7-0-2 in 9 games with a GAA of 1.73 and a save percentage of .952 vs. the Jackets on the road in his career. He is now 7-1-2.

The Jackets have now won three straight at home and three of the last four overall. They also have points in four straight games. With the win, they're now 5-3-1 and are 5th in the Metro.

The "Donkey of the Day" is Elvis Merzļikins.

Final Stats

Players Stats

• Damon Severson scored his 2nd goal of the season.

• Sean Kuraly got an assist, his 2nd point of the season.

• Justin Danforth scored his 2nd goal of the season.

• Cole Sillinger had one assist, his 8th point.

• Ivan Provorov had an assist, his 3rd point.

• Elvis Merzļikins stopped all 26 Islanders' shots.

Team Stats

• The Jackets weren't awarded a man advantage in the game.

• The PK went 1/1 on the only Islanders power play.

• Columbus only won 40% of its faceoffs.

• The CBJ blocked 20 shots on the night.

What's Next - Columbus plays the Winnipeg Jets on Friday at Nationwide Arena.

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