Three Things: Boone Jenner's Two Goals, Justin Danforth's 1st Career Goal, Elvis Merzlikins Does Just Enough

By Will Chase on November 19, 2021 at 12:00 am
Columbus Blue Jackets center Boone Jenner celebrates his hat trick against the Arizona Coyotes in the third period at Gila River Arena.
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
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What a wild way to start a three-game road trip.

Boone Jenner stole the show with two goals and Justin Danforth scored his first career goal to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 5-4 shootout victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night from Gila River Arena. 

Yegor Chinakhov, fresh off his first-career goal Monday night over the Detroit Red Wings, fired off the winning shootout goal to give Columbus their ninth victory, and move the team to 5-0 in overtime/shootout. Columbus is now 10-2 in their last 12 games against the Coyotes.

Arizona came in just 2-13-1 on the season after earning their second win of the season against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. Regardless of the Coyotes' struggles coming in, Brad Larsen's message about his team and their focus were as you expected.


Boone Jenner Leads The Way

Jenner continues to string together goals. His first period goal and eighth of the season at 16:35 tied the game at one—matching last year's total—and he already has four power play goals this season.

But there's more.

In the second period, he tied the game again, moments after Phil Kessel's goal had given the Coyotes a 2-1 lead.

In the third period, Jenner was originally credited with his third goal of the game which would have been his second-career hat trick. The goal was later credited to Zach Werenski for his fourth of the season as part of a two-point night. Werenski assisted on Jenner's first goal of the night.  

The captain now has a two-game goal streak with three against the Coyotes. He just missed another goal in overtime on a breakaway that went wide. For the game, he finished with six shots on goal. 

Jake Voracek also had two assists on the night. The point-per-game player now has 15 on the year and is on a seven-game point streak (one goal, nine assists). 


Elvis Fends Off 'Yotes

It's simple, but for every great goal, you need goaltending to lead the way on occasion. Thursday wasn't Elvis Merzlikins' best game, but he was able to do just enough to fend off the Coyotes in a wild affair, keeping his team in it through a seven-round shootout.

Below is just one of a few key stops throughout the night.

It was a weird night overall with odd bounces and caroms that were helping (and hurting) both teams as the game wore on.


Justin Danforth

In just his second career game, Danforth lit up the scoreboard for the first goal and point of his NHL career, which gave Columbus a brief 3-2 lead in the second period. 


Sin City

The Blue Jackets will face the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday at 10:00 pm ET from T-Mobile Arena. Vegas defeated the Red Wings 5-2 on Thursday night in Las Vegas. 

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