ST. PAUL, Minn. — Growth for NHL teams is not something that can easily be tracked within a game.

It usually takes consistent improvement over a wide expanse of time for the league's most inexperienced teams. There are always exceptions, however, and the Blue Jackets' game Saturday night at Xcel Energy Center was one of them.

There were noticeable moments of growth for the Jackets throughout it, despite ultimately falling 3-2 in overtime to the Minnesota Wild to end a hard-hitting, intense tilt that included star defenseman Zach Werenski leaving early with an upper-body injury.

“We played our tails off,” said Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen, whose team stood up to the bigger, rougher Wild a day after losing in overtime to the Winnipeg Jets on the front end of a challenging road back-to-back. “I mean, we’re coming in the building, we played (Friday) night, get in at 2 a.m. It’s a pretty loaded (Wild) team trying to make a (playoff) run ... I’m so proud of our team, how we played tonight. Lights out tonight. Lights out.”

The final statistics say otherwise, but the lessons learned in this game by the Jackets weren't measured statistically. They were earned, physically, through constant challenges against a "heavy" opponent with its mind squarely focused on qualifying for the playoffs.

Minnesota started newly-acquired goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury for the first time, making sure his 23 saves led to victory, but Columbus made sure it wasn’t easy.

The Blue Jackets overcame an early 1-0 deficit after the first of Kirill Kaprizov’s two goals, taking a 2-1 lead on goals in the second from Jake Bean and Jakub Voracek. At the other end, goalie Elvis Merzlikins (35 saves) made numerous key stops to keep Minnesota at bay until late in the third.

That's when Kaprizov scored for the second time, knotting it 2-2 with 1:03 left and Fleury on the bench for a 6-on-5 advantage. Overtime came next and Jared Spurgeon endedit at 1:24 with a backhand goal over Merzlikins' outstretched right leg.

“I’m frustrated for our guys,” Larsen said. “I’m going to be quite honest. They played so hard tonight. They really did. And I wanted that win for them, for that group, to feel good about themselves. And they should, because what they laid on the line tonight was impressive.”

As for Werenski, the Jackets’ top defenseman needed assistance leaving the ice with 2:12 left in the first after a high hit by Wild defenseman Jacob Middleton. Larsen and assistant Steve McCarthy were forced to mix and match the remaining five defensemen.

Hit by Minnesota Wild’s Jacob Middleton injures Zach Werenski, infuriates Blue Jackets

The only good news regarding Werenski's situation is his teammates saw him moving around better in the locker room than he did leaving the ice.

Working backward from that point, the situation was much scarier in the moments after Middleton’s hit — which he finished with a high point of contact after Werenski let a wrist shot go. Available replay angles on the ESPN+ broadcast weren't definitive as to what happened, as the one shot at ice level cut away before showing whether Middleton’s shoulder or helmet struck Werenski in the mouth.

Werenski fell immediately to the ice, covered his mouth and stayed prone, face down, while Mike Vogt, the Jackets' head athletic trainer, attended to him. He was helped to his feet, but needed stabilizing assistance from teammates Gustav Nyquist and Oliver Bjorkstrand to get off the ice.

Werenski was hunched the entire glide to the bench and a close-up of his face showed his eyes partially closed. He was then helped down the hall leading from the bench to the locker room and officially declared out of the game in the second period.

The ESPN broadcast crew of Bob Wischusen (play-by-play), Brian Boucher (analyst) and NHL rules analyst Dave Jackson came to the agreement that it wasn’t an illegal hit and was just an unfortunate injury resulting from Middleton’s hard style of play.

The Blue Jackets strongly disagreed.

“It takes, arguably, our best player out of the game,” center Sean Kuraly said. “It’s not something you want. We thought it was high. They didn’t call it. ‘Not a penalty.’ You move on, you keep playing.”

Larsen declined to give a opinion when asked directly, but his sarcastic tone when asked whether he even saw the play live spoke volumes.

“I was there, yeah,” he said. “Front row. Yep.”

Meanwhile, the Jackets had to stomach the sight of their teammate leaving in distress. The Wild were also trying to bully them, knowing Columbus lacked an enforcer, so the visitors stood their ground as their blood boiled.

“It definitely gave us a little bit of a boost,” said Oliver Bjorkstrand, who was penalized in the second for boarding Minnesota’s Marcus Foligno. “We wanted to try and get the win there. It’s not fun seeing (Werenski) go down like that, so we hope he’s going to be OK.”

This was the final meeting this season between Minnesota and Columbus, so any hard feelings will have to wait until next season. Werenski's condition, on the other hand, is a bigger concern now with only 16 games left on the Jackets' schedule.

Blue Jackets did not seek revenge for Marcus Foligno hit on Jakub Voracek

Had this game been played 15 years ago, there probably would’ve been some carryover from the first meeting in Columbus.

In the waning stages of regulation in that one, which the Jackets won 3-2 in a shootout Mar. 11 at Nationwide Arena, Foligno drilled Voracek with an open-ice hit late in the third that caused an injury. No penalty was called, Voracek hyperextended his left knee and Foligno was fined $5,000 by the NHL’s department of player safety the following day for kneeing — the maximum amount allowed under the league’s collective bargaining agreement with the NHL Players’ Association.

That’s not a large number for an NHL player to pay, so it seemed like Foligno — the younger brother of former Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno — got away with a dangerous hit. Voracek only missed one game and told reporters he didn’t feel Foligno intended for the hit to be dirty or cause injury, but he also criticized the lack of a penalty and suspension.

Two weeks later, Larsen didn’t anticipate any spillover in Saturday's rematch.

“I think it’s overblown,” he said at the morning skate. “I mean, Jake’s already addressed it. It’s not a dirty play. I don’t think (Foligno) meant to do it. It happened. And, yeah, you go back maybe 15 years ago, it might’ve been a brawl at that point, I don’t know. But it’s one of those plays. We slow these plays down (now). You have 38 cameras and ‘ultra slo-mo' and you go, ‘Wow, he meant to.’”

Watching it live, Larsen offered a different perspective.

“He’s trying to make a play,” he said of Foligno. “It’s a 6-on-5 situation, he’s trying to get physical and sometimes when you’re trying to get physical you stick a leg out, whatever it is. There’s no intent, I believe, to be dirty. Where Jake was frustrated is we didn’t get a call. And I agree. You could’ve called it tripping, you could’ve called it kneeing, you could’ve called a lot of things.”

As it turned out, Werenski scored a 6-on-5 goal to send that game to overtime and the Jackets won in the shootout that followed. That, apparently, was where the Jackets' payback ended. Bjorkstrand was asked whether his boarding penalty on Foligno might've been related to the situation with Voracek and flatly denied it while attempting to downplay its severity.

Boqvist doesn't play after scoring goal for Blue Jackets in Winnipeg

Larsen made only one lineup change from what he used Friday in Winnipeg.

It was a bit of a surprise too.

Gabriel Carlsson replaced Adam Boqvist on the third defense pairing, taking one of his best offensive weapons out of the lineup a day after Boqvist scored his 11th goal of the season Friday against the Jets. That game was his first after an 11-game absence with an upper-body injury and Larsen cited "ice time" management as the reason Boqvist didn't face the Wild.

Boqvist, who took a high hit in the Winnipeg game, leads all Blue Jackets defensemen in goals despite missing 24 games. Look for him to possibly rejoin the lineup Tuesday against the New York Islanders, especially if Werenski can't play.

Merzlikins learning to handle increased workload as Blue Jackets' starter

Merzlikins nearly pulled off a victory in one of his best performances this season.

Even with the loss, the talented goalie’s night was impressive while soaking up his second game in as many days. One week earlier, Merzlikins left a game against the St. Louis Blues with back spasms that rendered him unable to remove his own socks for two days.

“I think it’s real important for him,” Larsen said of his top net-minder, who has already surpassed his career-high for appearances. “He’s going to play a lot of games and I want him in these games, because hopefully next year we’re in this situation (again) ... but much closer to a playoff spot or in it. You want your starter to be going every night and managing that and understanding what that’s going to feel like. So, he’s going to play.”

Until allowing the goals to Kaprizov late in regulation and Spurgeon in OT, Merzlikins was the game's top standout. He kept the Blue Jackets close after they allowed the first goal and kept the Wild at bay once Columbus gained the lead.

It just didn’t hold up for the entire game.

Blue Jackets overcome statistical disadvantages against Minnesota Wild

Merzlikins’ excellence was the biggest reason the Jackets kept the score close and nearly won. Without numerous key saves from him, the Wild might’ve won in a blowout.

According to Natural Stat Trick, Minnesota had a 38-25 edge in total shots and 28-20 advantage at 5-on-5. The Wild also built a 22-10 margin in scoring chances and 14-5 edge in high-danger chances – including 9-0 in high-danger opportunities during a third period when Minnesota outshot Columbus 13-3.

Those are numbers that also reflect Werenski’s absence and the workload absorbed after his injury by the Jackets’ five remaining defensemen: Bean, Andrew Peeke, Vladislav Gavrikov, Dean Kukan and Gabriel Carlsson.

“I have no problem with how we played,” Larsen said. “Under the circumstances coming in (and) the player we lost with the minutes he gobbles up, that was a really good effort from a group of guys that played really hard tonight. Very competitive. They were drinking pickle juice and (cramping) up from playing so many minutes. … it was a gut-check time to go out there.”

Marc-Andre Fleury notches win over Blue Jackets in Minnesota Wild debut

The Wild are officially operating on “flower power” now.

Fleury played his first game for Minnesota after he was acquired in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks last Monday. He made 23 saves, including back-to-back beauties at the end of the second to keep the Jackets from extending a slim 2-1 lead.

Fleury’s numbers with the Blackhawks were pedestrian, going 19-21-5 with a 2.95 goals-against average and .908 save percentage, but he's got a hall-of-fame worthy career resume and should thrive on a team with better defense played in front of him.

bhedger@dispatch.com

@BrianHedger

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets fall in OT after standing up to Minnesota Wild