COLUMBUS, Ohio — Kirill Marchenko had already set a career-high in ice time as he sat on the bench in overtime, catching his breath while his Columbus Blue Jackets teammates and Los Angeles Kings tried to break a 2-2 deadlock.
And all it took was one look from Marchenko to convince coach Dean Evason that he was ready for more.
Marchenko’s acrobatic, airborne goal off a powerful drive to the net at 3:45 of the extra period — his 20th goal of the season and the second OT winner of his career — led the Blue Jackets to a 3-2 win before an over-capacity crowd of 18,919 in Nationwide Arena.
Zach Werenski and Dante Fabbro also scored goals, while goaltender Elvis Merzlikins continued his stellar run of play, making 31 saves. It was the Blue Jackets’ fifth straight win at home and the 11th time in 12 games that they’ve earned at least a point in Nationwide.
But it was Marchenko who ended the Blue Jackets’ latest gritty, teeth-gnashing victory. He’d already taken three shifts during three-on-three overtime before locking eyes with Evason and going out for a fourth and final.
“We double (shifted) him every chance we could,” Evason said. “His engine, or his recovery rate, was phenomenal all night.
“We had two other guys going (out next) in overtime at that last shift and he literally eyeballed me to go back on the ice. He’s competing his ass off, right?”
MARCHY CALLED GAME!💥@FanaticsBook | #CBJ pic.twitter.com/iBd8VXTE9l
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) January 26, 2025
Marchenko made a fascinating read as he came into the attack zone through the left circle. He recognized that Kings forward Kevin Fiala — not a defenseman — had switched to cover him, and he thought he could expose Fiala by making him skate backward and defend.
“If a guy goes against me (like that), it’s hard to defend,” Marchenko said. “I just think about it … if it’s a forward, I can beat him. Just drive the net. That’s it.”
Marchenko skated wide of Fiala, sent the puck under Fiala’s stick to get it back to his forehand, then skidded the puck across the crease of Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper before leaving his skates and burying the puck around the goalie’s left pad.
“That looked like Bobby Orr,” Merzlikins said. “The Russian Bobby Orr.”
The Blue Jackets, thanks to a break in the schedule, are taking both Sunday and Monday as off days. With that in mind, Evason rode his No. 1 line hard against the Kings, one of the largest, most physical, and defensively stout clubs in the NHL.
Marchenko played 25:36, while center Adam Fantilli drew a career-high 25:58, and left winger Dmitri Voronkov played 19:22. Werenski, the NHL ice time leader, drew 28:00.
It was another all-hands-on-deck game for the Blue Jackets.
Werenski scored his 16th goal of the season at 9:24 of the first period, giving the Blue Jackets a 1-0 lead and extending his club-record home points streak to 19 games, only six short of the aforementioned Bobby Orr’s NHL record.
His playing partner, Dante Fabbro, sailed in a long shot through traffic early in the third period to give the Jackets a 2-1 lead.
Fabbro is one with the force! @FanaticsBook | #CBJ pic.twitter.com/J6Jg72nbk6
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) January 26, 2025
The Kings appeared to tie the score at two with 13:56 remaining in the third period, but video coaches Dan Singleton and Aron Augustitus — perched high above the ice at press level — alerted the bench that Kings forward Phillip Danault was in the zone ahead of the puck, an offside infraction.
After a long review, the goal was taken off the board. That would loom large the rest of the way.
With the Jackets leading 2-1, the Kings pulled Kuemper for an extra skater with 3:14 remaining. The Blue Jackets spent much of the next two minutes in their own zone, failing twice to clear the puck and get a change. The Kings scored off a rebound with 1:05 remaining to tie it.
In recent years — heck, maybe even earlier this season — a goal like that would have been crushing. This time?
“Nothing,” Evason said, proudly. “Nothing. (The response on the bench) was … nothing. No panic. Nobody yelling. Nobody shouting. It happened. They scored. We got stuck in our zone, we didn’t get a clear a couple of times and it went in our net.
“But we’ve talked about the group in there, the leadership and not losing our composure in those areas. They proved that again today.”
The Blue Jackets are now 50 games deep in an 82-game season and they remain in a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. They’re currently in the second wild-card spot but have the same number of points (55) as the first wild-card club, Tampa Bay.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way this season.
“You can see the makeup of our team and how much each individual cares,” Fabbro said. “When the going gets tough, a big part of our character right now is we push back. It’s really cool to see.
“You know, I’ve been in the league for a little bit now, and it doesn’t happen often when you get a feeling in the locker room. We had a lot of work ahead of us and it’s a long road. But there’s a lot of belief in here, for sure.”
(Photo: Joseph Maiorana / Imagn Images)
