TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — It was early in the first period of the first game Elvis Merzlikins had ever played on a North American-sized rink. A New York Rangers prospect, Brett Kemp, carried the puck off his backhand low in the faceoff circle to Merzlikins’ right, and the Blue Jackets’ rookie goaltender thought he had a read on the play.



But as Merzlikins started to abandon his right post and drift to the other side of the net, Kemp flipped the puck off Merzlikins’ right shoulder and watched it roll down his back and into the net.



Merzlikins looked surprised and disappointed. On any continent, in any size rink, that’s a bad goal.



But it also was lesson No. 1 in what Merzlikins is up against in trying to get comfortable with these tighter confines with less than a month to go before the Blue Jackets open the regular season with him and Joonas Korpisalo in net.



“In Europe, that player (Kemp) would (skate behind)...