Maple Leafs at Blue Jackets
The Toronto Maple Leafs posted their seventh win in eight games with a 4-2 triumph over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday before falling short in Carolina two days later for just their second road loss in 11 outings this season. The Maple Leafs bid to dust themselves off and salvage a split of their road trip on Friday when they visit Nationwide Arena to face the Blue Jackets.
John Tavares became the fifth player in Maple Leafs' history and first since 1943-44 to score 11 or more goals in his team's first 11 road games when he tallied in the first period of Wednesday's 5-2 setback against the Hurricanes. The 28-year-old Ontario native, who also scored in the first encounter with Columbus and has a club-best 14 tallies, has made himself at home on the road with 17 of his 26 points coming away from Scotiabank Arena. The Blue Jackets have had a few days to lament seeing a late defensive miscue on a faceoff cost them dearly as they bid adieu to both a three-game winning streak and season-best seven-game point stretch (5-0-2) against the Maple Leafs. "We played well enough to win, and not to get a point out of it off just a simple coverage off a faceoff, it just (ticks) you off," coach John Tortorella said. "It's pee-wee coverage and we didn't handle it. It's frustrating."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, TSN4 (Toronto), FS Ohio (Columbus)
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (15-7-0): Kasperi Kapanen had an assist in the first meeting with the Blue Jackets before tallying midway into the third period versus the Hurricanes to give him six of his nine goals scored on the road. "You see the confidence and seeing how deadly or how effective his tools are – his shot, his skating ability – the confidence that's growing in that and the impact he can make and how hard he can be to defend," Tavares said of Kapanen. Mitch Marner set up a pair of tallies versus Columbus to push his team-leading totals in assists and points to 22 and 28, respectively.
ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS (12-7-2): NHL First Star of the Week Cam Atkinson extended his career-best goal-scoring streak to five games by opening the scoring against Toronto and added an assist on linemate Pierre-Luc Dubois's tally to boost his point total to 11 (seven goals, four assists) in that stretch. "I'm putting myself in good positions," the 29-year-old Atkinson said, according to The Columbus Dispatch. "I think that's plain and simple. My linemates are making good passes and I'm just burying them." Dubois is riding a five-game point streak (four goals, five assists) and Artemi Panarin has four assists in his last two games to boost his team-leading point total to 22.
OVERTIME
1. Columbus G Sergei Bobrovsky, who is expected to make his 400th career start on Friday, has allowed 12 goals on 219 shots in seven contests this month.
2. Toronto is 3-for-21 on the power play in its last eight games.
3. The Blue Jackets scored six power-play goals in the last seven contests after going 6-for-56 in their first 14 outings.