Merzlikins wins back-to-back games, Blue Jackets hold off Ducks

ANAHEIM --Elvis Merzlikins made 37 saves to get the win in back-to-back games, and the Columbus Blue Jackets held off the Anaheim Ducks 4-3 at Honda Center on Tuesday.

Merzlikins made 35 saves in a 4-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday.
"Elvis played a heck of a game," Columbus forward Nathan Gerbe said. "Especially in the first, keeping us in it, and throughout the end he played great."
WATCH: [All Blue Jackets vs. Ducks highlights]
Zach Werenski scored two goals and Pierre-Luc Dubois had three assists for the Blue Jackets (21-15-8), who extended their NHL-leading road point streak to nine games (6-0-3).
"Seems like every night we have a chance to win," Werenski said. "It's a lot of fun right now."
Ondrej Kase scored two goals, Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and an assist, and Ryan Miller made 23 saves for the Ducks (17-21-5), who were trying to win two in a row for the first time since a 7-4 victory against the Winnipeg Jets on Oct. 29 and a 2-1 overtime win against the Vancouver Canucks on Nov. 1.
The Blue Jackets scored two goals in the final 1:23 of the second period to take a 3-2 lead.
Gerbe scored for the second straight night off a centering pass from Dubois to tie the score 2-2 at 18:37.

The Ducks challenged for offside, but the goal stood and Werenski scored on a one-timer from the slot on the ensuing power play for a 3-2 lead at 19:49.
"It can flip like that, it's a momentum game," Ducks defenseman Hampus Lindholm said. "They came at us hard there and we can't feel sorry about ourselves."
Anaheim pressured Columbus late in the third period and forced defenseman Seth Jones into a 3:26 shift, but couldn't tie the score.
"We had them hemmed in there for a while and we had a tremendous amount of pressure on them," Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. "That was part of the game plan in the third, and it's just too bad we weren't able to get rewarded."
Werenski scored into an empty net with 1:33 remaining to make it 4-2.
With Miller still out of the net for the extra skater, Kase scored on a tip-in front to cut it to 4-3 with 44 seconds left.

Merzlikins made his final save on Adam Henrique with 22 seconds left, and the Blue Jackets improved to 10-1-4 in their past 15 games.
"Found two goals late in the second period to take the lead, and from that point on I think we felt pretty comfortable," Werenski said.
Getzlaf won a face-off in the Columbus zone and the puck went to defenseman Michael Del Zotto at the right point. He took a shot and Getzlaf, still standing in the right circle, tipped the puck between Merzlikins' pads for a 1-0 lead at 3:06 of the first period.
Columbus tied it 1-1 at 11:47. Riley Nash brought the puck through the neutral zone before passing to Eric Robinson on his left just as they crossed the blue line. Robinson skated in and scored short side from the left circle.
Kase gave the Ducks a 2-1 lead 24 seconds into the second period, forcing a turnover in the Columbus zone and scoring from the left circle.

They said it

"I started with Getzlaf and ended with Getzlaf, I think. That's a first. Hopefully that only happens one time this year, but obviously, whatever it takes." -- Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones on his 3:26 shift
"Certainly there are positives we can take from the game, and we continued to fight in the third period, but at the end of the day we came up short." -- Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler

Need to know

The nine-game road point streak is the longest for Columbus since its team-record 11-game streak (10-0-1) from Nov. 20-Dec. 31, 2016. ... Werenski, who has seven goals in his past five games, moved into the NHL lead for goals by defensemen with 15, which is one shy of the team record for defenseman he shares with Jones. ... Columbus' John Tortorella coached his 1,301st NHL game, tying Mike Babcock for 12th on the NHL's all-time list. ... The Blue Jackets are 6-1-0 in the past seven games when they've allowed the first goal. ... Ducks forward Jakob Silfverberg sustained an upper-body injury in the first period. Eakins did not provide an update. Silfverberg leads the Ducks with 15 goals. … Ducks forward Rickard Rakell returned after missing six games with a wrist injury. He was minus-2 in 17:32. ... Getzlaf has five points (one goal, four assists) in his past two games. ... The Ducks outshot the Blue Jackets 40-27 and are 3-13-3 when outshooting their opponent this season.

What's next

Blue Jackets: At the San Jose Sharks on Thursday (10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCA, FS-O, NHL.TV)
Ducks: Host the Dallas Stars on Thursday (10 p.m. ET; ESPN+, PRIME, FS-SW, NHL.TV)