"We have full confidence in him," Pierre-Luc Dubois said. "He's getting better and better in practice. You see it. From camp to now, there's a big difference in everything. He works extremely hard with (goaltending coach) Manny (Legace), so you like to see him play well tonight. It's disappointing we couldn't get a win for him, but he should be very proud of himself. He played a very good game, gave us a chance to win."
"He played great," captain Nick Foligno said. "That's what (upsets) you, too, is to see him play as well as he did and not find a way to get a win for him, but it has to make him feel good about himself. It's coming. We knew he's a great goalie and he's going to bounce back."
"It feels really good," Markus Nutivaara added of Merzlikins' performance. "I think it's good for him and for the team, and he gave us a chance to win. We just didn't score enough. I think they have good forwards, so they can always score one or two. We had the chances, but I don't know. It feels bad (we couldn't get the win)."
Merzlikins' credentials have been solid -- he was twice the top goalie in Switzerland's top league and regularly turned heads playing for his home country in the World Championships -- but the transition to the speed and angles of the best league in the world has been a process.
That process took another step in Chicago and will continue for much of the season. The next one, to Merzlikins, is to put his name in the win column.
"Of course it's not the result that I wanted," Merzlikins said. "I came here to the rink and said I was going to win my first game. I was really (upset); I wanted to take this game. I really wanted it. The team helped me out a lot. They did huge blocked shots in front of me when I didn't see the puck. I thank them for that.
"It was better. It wasn't seven goals, it was just three, so that's positive. I have to keep working hard and when I get my next chance, try to win."