Blue Jackets Goalie Elvis Merzļikins Lives Out Many Players' Dream Of Wailing on Tom Wilson, Only Does It Cost His Team The Game?

Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzļikins lived out one of many NHLers' greatest dreams by unloading a flurry of punches on Washington Capitals agitator Tom Wilson.

If you have followed the NHL at all in recent years, you're probably well aware that Wilson is one of the league's preeminent "love him if he's on your team, hate him if he's not" players. The man can throw some ruthless hits and tends to toe the line between acceptable and dirty play.

Merzļikins felt like he crossed that line on Thursday night in Columbus.

It happened in overtime with the score knotted at two. Capitals D-man Martin Fehervary skated the puck from end to end and tried to tuck it five-hole on Merzļikins. Right behind him, however, was Wilson. He tried to pick up the rebound, but in doing so made contact with the netminder's leg. Merzļikins was none too pleased about it.

Merzļikins trapped Wilson in the cage and started unloading a barrage of punches with his blocker.

No one named Elvis has been that angry since the King of Rock 'N Roll was so upset about seeing Robert Goulet on TV that he shot the screen.

A lot of people have wanted to do that to Tom Wilson, but that play didn't seem anywhere near as questionable as the laundry list of other offenses on Wilson's resume. That could very well be why Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery was a result of the Jackets goalie trying to generate an odd-man rush by holding Wilson captive in a twine prison.

Whatever the reason, I kind of loved it. It was very Ron Hextall-esque. By that I mean he was firey in the net... not a lousy GM.

Merzļikins Inadvertently Handed Wilson, Capitals An Overtime Win

And a costly snap it was. Merzļikins was dealt two minutes for roughing — the only penalty from the entire melee — and that handed a 4-on-4 powerplay to the Capitals.

No worries right? The Capitals have powerplay scores at a measly 12.5% clip. Plus, Alex Ovechkin — historically the most dangerous piece of that top unit — was on an uncharacteristically long goal drought.

Wrong. Cue the Great 8 from his office for the game-winner.

Did you catch the entire Caps roster giving Merzļikins the business after the goal? Well, if you did, take a look at this photo that says a thousand words, most of which I probably couldn't reproduce in this article without getting a talking-to.

That's one of the photos of the year in the NHL calling it now.

As for Elvis Merzļikins, he went from the high of punching Tom Wilson to the low of inadvertently costing his team a win because he punched Tom Wilson.

Blue Jackets head coach Pascal Vincent talked about how Wilson did his job in getting Merzļikins to react.

“Tom Wilson’s job is to get in people’s faces and get in the goalie’s face,” Vincent said. “He’s creating a lot of emotions. The emotions were high. (Wilson) did what he had to do, and we reacted. It cost us the game.”

Ouch.

The Blue Jackets are currently last in the Metropolitan Division, 5 points behind seventh-place Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, the Capitals are in fourth place in the kind of standings log jam you don't typically see at Christmas. The second-place Philadelphia Flyers and 7th-place Penguins are separated by just 6 points with the Islanders, Capitals, Hurricanes, and Devils between them.

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