Stars Fan Taunts Blue Jackets' Merzlikins Over Death of Best Friend

Talk about crossing the line. According to Columbus Blue Jackets netminder Elvis Merzlikins, a Dallas Stars fan was taunting him about the death of his best friend and teammate Matiss Kivlenieks as the team was heading out on the ice on Monday night.

The goaltender spoke to Aaron Portzline of the Athletic and had this to say about the incident:

I was expecting a shutout, because I believe in karma. There are some stupid people in this world. "After the first period, the three posts that I got, I really believed in karma. I saw that (Kivlenieks) was really there. Stupid people don't come into my head. I didn't get upset. I just realize how stupid people are. This is all. I don't care what he said

What happened after the fan taunted the netminder? He went on to make 31 of 32 stops and the Blue Jackets kept rolling with a 4-1 victory over the Stars. Merzlikins is off to a hot start to the season, sitting at 4-0-0 with a .952 save %. Great to see he didn't let some gutless chirp get to him.

Exactly what he said. Just disgusting. Would love for the @DallasStars to investigate this and dish out a nice cool lifetime ban for the piece of shit who thought this would be funny https://t.co/t7rJRVyY6n pic.twitter.com/StxSOTSo9c
— Аlex Hobson (@HobsonA16) October 26, 2021

Told #CBJ and #Nationwide Arena security are attempting to identify the fan who, according to goaltender Elvis Merzlikins, taunted Merzlikins regarding the off-season death of his friend and former teammate Matiss Kivlenieks before Monday’s game vs. Dallas. #TexasHockey.
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) October 26, 2021