A wild win in Minnesota.
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CBJ GOALS: |
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Kirill Marchenko had a hat trick, and Elvis Merzlikins made 48 saves as the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Minnesota Wild 7-4 for their first win of the season on Saturday night at Grand Casino Arena.
Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson made 25 saves.
The scoring for Columbus started thanks to newcomer Miles Wood's first of the year at 2:29 of the first period. Zach Aston-Reese assisted on the goal.
That would be the only scoring for the opening 20 minutes. Then things broke loose early in the second period, as Marchenko scored the first of three goals, with his first coming at the seven-second mark to give Columbus the 2-0 lead.
Dmitri Voronkov and Ivan Provorov assisted with the tally.
Consecutive ensuing power-play goals by the Wild tied the game 2-2, thanks to Matt Boldy (Assists: Joel Eriksson Ek, Kirill Kaprizov) on the power play at 6:18 and Kaprizov at 8:24 (Assists: Boldy, Vladimir Tarasenko).
Marchenko's second of the game at 18:48 (Assists: Voronkov, Zach Werenski) capped off the combined four-goal second period as the Blue Jackets led 3-2 through 40 minutes.
Continuing the early offensive theme into the third period, Werenski scored at 1:11 (Assists: Adam Fantilli, Cole Sillinger) and Marchenko completed his fourth career hat trick at 3:01 (Assists: Werenski, Boone Jenner) as the Blue Jackets led 5-2.
Zeev Buium scored on the power play for Minnesota to make it a 5-3 game at 9:54 (Assists: Eriksson Ek, Boldy). Adam Fantilli got one back for Columbus at 10:47 (Assist: Jenner), and Kaprizov's second of the game, and the Wild's fourth power play goal, made it 6-4 at 15:49 (Assists: Marco Rossi, Buium).
How's this for a stat? Tonight was the second time #CBJ gave up four power-play goals in a game and won -- and Vladimir Tarasenko was on the opposing team both times.
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) October 12, 2025
The previous instance came Nov. 12, 2016, in an 8-4 win over St. Louis.
Boone Jenner's first of the season with the empty net made it 7-4 at 18:34 (Assist: Charlie Coyle) as Columbus picked up the huge win. It was also Jenner's 200th career goal.
Erik Gudbranson left the game in the third period and was being evaluated for an upper-body injury. Yegor Chinakhov was a healthy scratch for the second consecutive game.
Here's how the Blue Jackets came away with a huge two points in St. Paul.
1st Period:
(2:29 — CBJ Goal): Wood gets the goal, but Aston-Reese deserves a pat on the back for his intelligent play to get the puck off the boards right where Wood needs it to beat Gustavsson and give Columbus a 1-0 lead.
Miles Wood gets his first goal as a member of the #CBJ and gives Columbus their first lead of the season. Shoutout to ZAR for the sweet look.
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) October 12, 2025
Damon Severson gets the secondary assist and is, one+ game in, your team leader in points. pic.twitter.com/GnlvouFpEg
"Zach made a great play there," Wood said, adding that the duo talked about that type of play in preseason a few times.
2nd Period:
(0:07 — CBJ Goal): The fastest goal to start a period in franchise history comes off from Marchenko. Sean Monahan wins the faceoff, and the puck quickly gets to the stick of Voronkov. He finds Marchenko racing up the middle, and a quick wrister beats Gustavsson to extend the Blue Jackets' lead to 2-0.
Marchenko's goal makes it 2-0 just seven seconds into the second period, which is the fastest goal to start a period in franchise history, per @BlueJacketsPR.
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) October 12, 2025
Minnesota has since scored to cut into the #CBJ lead. It's 2-1 Blue Jackets.pic.twitter.com/tXNh6LzycV
(6:18 — MIN Goal): The first of two Minnesota power play goals in a span of 2:06 comes from Boldy. Kaprizov's shot from the dot leads to a rebound, and it ends up on the stick of Boldy, who taps it home to half the Blue Jackets' lead and make it a 2-1 game. The Blue Jackets challenged for goaltender interference, but the goal stood.
Official NHL ruling on the #CBJ goaltender interference challenge: "It was determined that the incidental contact between Minnesotas Joel Eriksson Ek and Columbus goaltender Elvis Merzlikins occurred in the white ice and, therefore, did not constitute goaltender interference."
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) October 12, 2025
(8:24 — MIN Goal): The Wild tied the game at 2-2 on another man-advantage goal. This time, it's Boldy holding the puck near the slot until he finds Kaprizov with no one around him. The 137 million dollar man whips a one-timer from a sharp angle and brings the Minnesota faithful to their feet again.
(18:28 — CBJ Goal): Columbus regains the lead — this time 3-2 — on Marchenko's second goal of the period. The goal-scoring sequence starts when Werenski floats it in from the blueline. The puck deflects off Voronkov's right to Marchenko, and he has a great look directly in front of the net to put the Blue Jackets back in front again.
#CBJ are up 3-2 entering the final period. Kirill Marchenko with a pair of goals in the second, including this one with a painful apple from Dmitri Voronkov:pic.twitter.com/DcPHdOC08e
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) October 12, 2025
3rd Period:
(1:11 — CBJ Goal): The Blue Jackets double their lead on Werenski's first goal of the season. Cole Sillinger makes a good play to swipe the puck from a Minnesota pass attempt. He passes it back to Fantilli, who then spots Werenski in the high slot. He skates in and gets off an 80 m.p.h. shot from the middle of the slot that beats Gustavsson and extends Columbus' lead to 4-2.
Werenski's first goal of the season came at 1:11 of the third period and made it 4-2 #CBJ.
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) October 12, 2025
Marchenko has since scored completing a hat trick and it's 5-2 Columbus with 11:12 left in the final frame.pic.twitter.com/V7CioHVGoo
(3:01 — CBJ Goal): Marchenko completes the hat trick while the Blue Jackets are on a 5-on-3 advantage and take a 5-2 lead. The goal came on a slap shot from the right faceoff circle to Gustavsson.
You've perhaps seen Kirill Marchenko's hatty goal already.
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) October 12, 2025
But you can't see it enough. Here it is again. #CBJpic.twitter.com/9YN36lDiAA
(9:54 — MIN Goal): Buium gets the first goal of his NHL career on the power play and trims the Columbus lead to 5-3. Eriksson Ek corralled the puck off the boards behind Merzlikins and dished to Buium for the one-time release.
(10:47 — CBJ Goal): Fantilli's first of the season gave Columbus the 6-3 lead. Jenner added the assist. This one came right off the faceoff to Gustavsson's right. A spinning Jenner had his shot bounce off Fantilli for the tally.
ADAMOOOOOOO!!!!!
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 12, 2025
CBJ x @FanaticsBook pic.twitter.com/sQxNes2C5E
(15:49 — MIN Goal): Kaprizov's second power play goal cut the deficit back to two goals. Buium sent the cross-ice pass to Rossi, who was all alone at the top of the left faceoff circle to Merzlikins, and Rossi unleashed a shot that clipped Kaprizov along the way for the goal.
(18:34 — CBJ Goal): Jenner caps this one off with his first of the season on the empty net as the Blue Jackets win 7-4.
Boone Jenner nets his 200th career goal!
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 12, 2025
CBJ x @FanaticsBook pic.twitter.com/YIoPt0g1Jl
| CBJ | GAME STATS | MIN |
|---|---|---|
| 32 | SHOTS | 52 |
| 44 | FACEOFFS | 27 |
| 1/3 | POWER PLAY | 4/8 |
| 4/8 | PENALTY KILL | 2/3 |
| 16 | HITS | 18 |
| 11 | GIVEAWAYS | 14 |
| 6 | TAKEAWAYS | 6 |
| 16 | BLOCKED SHOTS | 19 |
| ALL SITUATIONS ADVANCED STATS | ||
| 3.99 | EXPECTED GOALS | 4.43 |
| 65 | SHOT ATTEMPTS | 86 |
| 34 | SCORING CHANCES | 39 |
| 10 | HIGH-DANGER CHANCES | 18 |
| Data via NHL.com & NaturalStatTrick.com | ||
Stat Chat:
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Columbus had 10 different skaters pick up at a point, and five players with multi-point efforts as Marchenko had three goals, Fantilli had a goal and an assist, Jenner had one goal and two assists, Voronkov had two assists, and Werenski had one goal and two assists.
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Jenner's 200th career goal makes him the third Blue Jacket all-time to reach the milestone. He trails Rick Nash (289) and Cam Atkinson (213).
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Fantilli's goal to give the Blue Jackets a 6-3 lead was the 5,000th goal in franchise regular-season history.
- The 48 saves for Merzlikins are the second most of his career. His career high of 56 saves was a franchise record in a 6-0 loss on Jan. 26, 2022, to the Calgary Flames.
Up Next:
The Blue Jackets will travel back to Columbus for the Monday night home opener against the New Jersey Devils. With the pre-game festivities, look for the first puck to drop around 7:15 p.m.
