Blue Jackets at Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs aim to continue the momentum of their first three-game road sweep in the Golden State since the 1995-96 season on Monday when the Columbus Blue Jackets pay a visit to Scotiabank Arena. The Maple Leafs have outscored the opposition 27-12 while winning six of their last seven, capped by a 2-1 overtime victory in Anaheim on Friday.
Defenseman Morgan Rielly and Mitch Marner extended their point streaks to five (three goals, four assists) and four games (one goal, six assists), respectively, as the latter set up the former for his career high-tying ninth goal at 3:17 of overtime. Patrick Marleau's first-period goal was set up by Nazem Kadri, who has seven points (four goals, three assists) in his last seven contests overall and clobbered Columbus with three goals and two assists in a 6-3 win on Feb. 14. Cam Atkinson recorded his franchise high-tying fifth career hat trick on Saturday as the Blue Jackets posted their third straight win and improved to 5-0-2 in their last seven with a 4-1 triumph over Carolina. The 29-year-old Atkinson has scored six of his team-leading 12 goals and added three assists during his four-game point streak.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Ohio (Columbus), TVA, Sportsnet Ontario (Toronto)
ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS (12-6-2): Artemi Panarin, who set up three goals Saturday to increase his club-best assist (16) and point (21) totals, scored 3:11 into overtime of a 3-2 victory versus Toronto on Jan. 8. Pierre-Luc Dubois notched two assists versus the Hurricanes to give him 13 points (seven goals, six assists) in his last 11 contests while securing his fifth multi-point performance of the season - one shy of linemates Atkinson and Panarin. Alexander Wennberg also set up a goal on Saturday to boost his point total to six (one goal, five assists) in his last six games.
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (14-6-0): Frederik Andersen has turned aside 169 of 175 shots during his five-game winning streak entering Monday's tilt versus Columbus, against which he made a career-high 54 saves in the 6-3 win last season. Marleau, who scored a goal and set up two others in that contest, continued his strong performance in November with his fourth tally of the season Friday and 539th career to move past Keith Tkachuk for sole possession of 32nd place in the NHL's all-time list. The 39-year-old has three goals and four assists this month after netting just five points (one goal, four assists) in October.
OVERTIME
1. Columbus G Sergei Bobrovsky has allowed just one goal in four consecutive contests and six of the past seven.
2. Toronto C John Tavares saw his seven-game point streak snapped in Anaheim and returns home where he has recorded just six of his 23 points this season.
3. The Blue Jackets are 7-2-1 on the road this season heading into the tilt in Toronto, where it is 8-2-0 in the past 10 encounters.