The Columbus Blue Jackets are bringing back goaltender Matiss Kivlenieks on an emergency recall after the injury to Elvis Merzlikins.
Matiss Kivlenieks’ stay with the Cleveland Monsters was quite brief. In fact, it did not include appearing in a a game before being an emergency recall by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Elvis Merzlikins suffered an injury during Monday’s 4-3 overtime win over Ottawa.
Former Blue Jacket Anthony Duclair crashed into Merzlikins causing the injury.
Joonas Korpisalo came in for Merzlikins and finished the game.
Kivlenieks appeared in three games (two starts) in his most recent stint with the Blue Jackets. Unfortunately Columbus lost all three games he appeared in.
Columbus was just one injury away from finding themselves in the same situation as the Carolina Hurricanes the other night. Carolina had to go with their emergency backup goalie David Ayres. This was due to injuries to their starter and regular backup. Ayres was able to be a temporary fill-in and came away with a win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. While this is a good story, it is certainly understandable why Columbus does not want go down that same path.
As long as the Blue Jacket are able to avoid the injury bug yet again they should be fine. This is much easier said than done because just about anyone and everyone has been injured in Columbus this season.
