Columbus Blue Jackets' Goalie Elvis Merzlikins Lashes Out at MacKenzie Weegar After Dirty Play
The Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins lashed out at MacKenzie Weegar after a dirty play in a game against the Calgary Flames last night.
On Friday night, the Blue Jackets were looking to bounce back from a tough 4-3 overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens against another Canadian team: the Calgary Flames.
Surprisingly, the Flames have been great so far this season, standing at the third spot in the Pacific Division with a 12-8-4 record.
However, the Blue Jackets got the upper hand, winning the heated battle 5-2.
Adam Fantilli scored two goals, and Kirill Marchenko tallied three points to help the team get the win.
Goaltender Elvis Merlikins also played an important part in his team's success, making 27 saves on 19 shots.
Players showed a lot of intensity on the ice. With the Blue Jackets performing quite well lately, and the other teams in the Metropolitan Division struggling, Columbus is moving up in the rankings; only two points behind the Philadelphia Flyers at the 5th rank.
When intensity gets higher, players compete harder, and that's what fans witnessed in an incident involving Merzlikins and an opponent.
The Flames were making circles around the Blue Jackets in their zone, and at some point, Merzlikins ended up making a save by sitting on the puck.
Some players poked around, but MacKenzie Weegar poked him in the groin area.
Merzlikins snapped and a major scrum ensued. The goalie went after Weegar, who quickly skated away to let the referees intervene.
The Blue Jackets netminder ended up getting a minor penalty for what he did.
Check out the full incident in the video below:
Weegar's hit didn't seem intentional. He probably wanted to score a goal and didn't pay attention to what was standing between him and the puck.
However, we can understand why Merzlikins reacted this way. Some gestures aren't welcomed in the NHL and this is one of them.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Michael Bunting | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Kristopher Letang | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| John Carlson | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Aleksander Barkov | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jesper Bratt | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Cole Caufield | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Pierre-Luc Dubois | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Anders Lee | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Michael Matheson | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Artemi Panarin | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Taylor Raddysh | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Rasmus Sandin | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Nick Suzuki | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Chris Tanev | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Mika Zibanejad | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Adam Fox | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Matthew Grzelcyk | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Jack Hughes | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Roman Josi | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Mitch Marner | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 24 | 18 | 6 | - | 36 | |
Wild | 23 | 15 | 4 | 4 | 34 | |
Devils | 26 | 16 | 8 | 2 | 34 | |
Capitals | 23 | 16 | 6 | 1 | 33 | |
Hurricanes | 23 | 16 | 6 | 1 | 33 | |
Golden Knights | 24 | 15 | 6 | 3 | 33 | |
Panthers | 24 | 14 | 9 | 1 | 29 | |
Kings | 24 | 13 | 8 | 3 | 29 | |
Stars | 22 | 14 | 8 | - | 28 | |
Maple Leafs | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||