Merzlikins makes 21 saves, Blue Jackets shut out Blues

Elvis Merzlikins made 21 saves for the Columbus Blue Jackets, who ended the St. Louis Blues’ five-game winning streak with a 1-0 win at Enterprise Center on Tuesday.

It was the first shutout for Merzlikins and the Blue Jackets since Jan. 13, 2022.

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“This is huge for, not just for me, but for the team,” Merzlikins said. “Honestly, without their help, I would not make it.”

Dmitri Voronkov scored for the Blue Jackets (16-24-10), who ended a five-game road trip 2-2-1.

“It was a total team effort. From the special teams, we had great looks on the power play, the penalty kill did a good job,” Columbus coach Pascal Vincent said. “I thought we played a real smart road game today.”

Jordan Binnington made 21 saves for the Blues (26-21-2), who outscored their opponents 19-12 during the streak.

“We didn’t play well enough to win a hockey game here tonight, no question about that,” St. Louis coach Drew Bannister said. “The first period, we weren’t skating, we weren’t engaged at all. The second period, I thought we started to skate a little bit more, but we were playing cute hockey, and cute hockey doesn’t win at this level.”

Voronkov made it 1-0 at 4:11 of the third period, finishing a cross-crease pass from Zach Werenski on an odd-man rush after St. Louis forward Robert Thomas turned the puck over in Columbus’ zone.

“I just kind of twisted and saw [Voronkov] there, so I fired one over, and he makes a good play,” Werenski said. “But I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. It kind of worked out, I guess.”

Bannister said Thomas’ turnover was just one of a collection of mistakes by the Blues.

“The entry, we had guys pulling up when we should have been driving to the net to open up the plays that were coming late, and it would have opened up,” Bannister said. “But for some reason, we decided to pull up just inside the blue line instead of finishing routes to the net.”

Merzlikins made his best save of the game at 1:18 of the third period, kicking out his right pad on a rebound in front to keep the game scoreless.

“Elvis was solid,” Vincent said. “Made a key save, an unbelievable save at the key time.”

The Blue Jackets appeared to take a 1-0 lead at 18:15 of the second period when the officials ruled Boone Jenner’s shot a goal, but it was quickly overturned after a review showed the puck hit the post.

“I think they competed hard, clogged up the middle a lot,” St. Louis forward Brandon Saad said. “We were playing too much perimeter hockey. They did a good job checking. We obviously didn’t have our best game.”

NOTES: Columbus forward Adam Fantilli, the No. 2 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, missed his first game of the season after his left leg was cut by a skate in the second period of a 4-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Sunday. Fantilli will be reevaluated by the Blue Jackets when the team arrives home on Wednesday. … Voronkov scored his 12th goal of the season. He is tied with Fantilli for third among rookies, behind Connor Bedard of the Chicago Blackhawks (15) and Marco Rossi of the Minnesota Wild (13). … Werenski (193) passed Nick Foligno (102) for the third-most assists in Blue Jackets history.