Blue Jackets end skid with OT win against Senators; Merzlikins injured

COLUMBUS -- The Columbus Blue Jackets ended an eight-game winless streak but lost goalie Elvis Merzlikins to injury in a 4-3 overtime win against the Ottawa Senators at Nationwide Arena on Monday.

Emil Bemstrom scored on the rebound of a Zach Werenski shot with 25 seconds left to win it for the Blue Jackets (31-19-14), who were 0-3-5 in their previous eight games.
"I've been waiting for that all season," Bemstrom said. "That's the first time I've scored in overtime], so I guess I'm happy. I want to play well. I have to do that to keep my confidence."
***[WATCH: [All Senators vs. Blue Jackets highlights]*
Merzlikins, the NHL leader with five shutouts, allowed two goals on 18 shots before sustaining an undisclosed injury in a collision with Senators forward Anthony Duclair with 8:44 left in the second period. There was no update after the game.
Joonas Korpisalo, in his first game since sustaining a knee injury against the Chicago Blackhawks on Dec. 29, made 14 saves in relief for his first win since Dec. 23.
"I didn't plan on that," Korpisalo said. "It's sad to see something like that kind of stuff happen to Elvis. I didn't see what really happened, but it's not fun."

Bailey Seagraves, a 22-year-old goaltending coach for the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets, dressed as the emergency backup goalie but was not on the bench.
After the game, the Blue Jackets added goalie
Matiss Kivlenieks
on an emergency basis from Cleveland of the American Hockey League.
Nick Foligno scored twice, and Boone Jenner had two assists for Columbus, which is tied with the New York Islanders for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
Connor Brown scored twice, and Marcus Hogberg made 41 saves for Ottawa (21-30-12).
The Senators were without center Jean-Gabriel Pageau (New York Islanders) and forwards Vladislav Namestnikov (Colorado Avalanche) and Tyler Ennis (Edmonton Oilers) after each was traded on Monday.
"This team has been outstanding all year. These guys work," Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said. "Tonight, we're short bodies, important guys, guys who have played minutes. Our team continued to play hard right to the final buzzer.
"When your best players play hard, everyone else is going to follow."
Foligno gave the Blue Jackets a 1-0 lead at 4:10 of the first period.

Brown tied it 1-1 at 10:48 and made it 2-1 at 9:55 of the second, nine seconds into a power play.
Foligno tied it 2-2 at 12:32 of the second with his second of the night. He has three goals in the past three games.
Colin White gave the Senators a 3-2 lead at 9:16 of the third before Stefan Matteau tied it 3-3 29 seconds later. Matteau has two goals and an assist in three games since being recalled from Cleveland.
"That was a huge goal, [helped us] climb back into the game," Korpisalo said. "After that, I think we took off and controlled the OT as well, so I think that set up the rest of the game for us."

Forward Matthew Peca made his Senators debut after being acquired from the Montreal Canadiens for forward Aaron Luchuk and a seventh-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft on Monday prior to the 2020 NHL Trade Deadline.
Peca arrived late and did not take his first shift until 14:25 of the first period. He played 9:00 and had an assist on White's goal.
"You don't know a whole lot of the systems or anything like that, but the guys are pretty well coached, good coaches behind the bench," Peca said. "All game guys were talking out there. I didn't have an issue."

They said it

"It's a pretty emotional day. In the morning we were all wondering what our team would look like. All things considered, I thought we showed a lot of professionalism and came to play right out of the gate and played our game."-- Senators forward Connor Brown
"We just hung with it. I'm really proud of the guys for that. We found a way to gut it out, but we have to be better than that." -- Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno

Need to know

Duclair left in the third period after taking a shot off his foot. Smith said he won't play Tuesday at the Nashville Predators and will likely "be out for a bit." … Senators forward Rudolfs Balcers was recalled from Belleville of the AHL on Monday. He didn't arrive at the arena until late in the second period, but his equipment did not make it and he did not play. … Blue Jackets forward Riley Nash sustained an undisclosed injury at 6:06 of the second period. … Forward Devin Shore is expected to make his Blue Jackets debut at the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday after being acquired from the Anaheim Ducks for forward Sonny Milano.

What's next

Senators:At the Nashville Predators on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; FS-TN, TSN5, RDS2, NHL.TV)
Blue Jackets: At the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; FS-N, FS-O, NHL.TV)