In Columbus, Alexandre Texier and Oliver Bjorkstrand (first of two goals) scored in the first period to give the Blue Jackets a 2-0 lead over the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday.
That was probably the good news for Arizona.
“It was a special night,” Columbus head coach Brad Larsen said. “It was a strange night in a lot of ways. There were a lot of exciting things for the fans back in the stands and we talked about the energy from that.”
The Blue Jackets kept the pressure on with three goals in the second and third periods en route to an 8-2 thrashing of the Coyotes.
“I don’t think the score reflected the game,” Coyotes head coach Andre Tourigny said. “We had breakdowns defensively, yes. At some point we got emotional and got off our game but if you look at the way we played it’s a better thing than the score showed.”
Elvis Merzlikins, made 36 saves for the win.
“It was my most important game,” Merzlikins said. “I was obviously very nervous, because I didn’t want to embarrass the number the first and last time I wear it,”
Anton Stralman and Clayton Keller scored for Arizona.
Boone Jenner and Jake Bean scored for the Blue Jackets making the count 5-1.
Max Domi and Zach Werenski also scored for Columbus.
“Getting that first one, first shift was definitely part of the game plan,” Domi said. “We came out of the gates flying and just kind of rolled with it through some ups and downs during the game.”
Gustav Nyquist closed out the scoring late in the third period for the 8-2 final.
Carter Hutton made 18 saves in the loss.
“We’ve got 81 more games to go so onto the next one,” Keller said. “You learn from it. It’s a long season and move on from it.”
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