Jackets snap brief skid with win over Leafs
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Defenseman Seth Jones scored an unassisted goal and assisted on a rare Columbus power-play goal to help the Blue Jackets end a two-game losing streak with a 4-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night at Nationwide Arena.
Jones' goal came in the first period, and he also was credited with an assist on Pierre-Luc Dubois' second-period goal. In the past four games, Jones has three goals to give him six for the season and 19 points.
The Blue Jackets (21-13-1), who entered the night with the NHL's lowest-ranked power play at 10.2 percent, went 1 of 2 with the man-advantage.
Lukas Sedlak scored the Blue Jackets' first goal in the opening period with an assist from Matt Calvert. Alexander Wennberg expanded the Columbus lead with a third-period goal, and Cam Atkinson contributed two assists.
The Maple Leafs' goals came from Jake Gardiner in the second period and Mitch Marner in the third period of Toronto's second game in two days. Gardiner also had an assist.
It was the first of five straight on the road for Toronto (21-14-1).
Joonas Korpisalo was in goal for the Blue Jackets after Sergei Bobrovsky started the previous eight games and went 3-5-0 with a 3.81 goals-against average and an .878 save percentage. Korpisalo made 39 saves in his first start since Dec. 1 and improved his season record to 4-3-0.
Former Blue Jackets goaltender Curtis McElhinney finished with 33 saves in his first start for the Maple Leafs since he shut out the Edmonton Oilers on Dec. 10. He made his seventh start of the season.
Sedlak gave the Blue Jackets a 1-0 lead at 12:57 of the first period when he spun around in the slot after taking a pass from the boards by Calvert. The hard wrist shot slipped past McElhinney for Sedlak's fourth goal of the season.
Jones made it 2-0 at 18:45 of the first with a heady play. He stuck his outstretched stick in front of a Toronto pass and skated three-quarters the length of the ice for the unassisted goal just after a Maple Leafs power play ended.
Gardiner closed the gap to 2-1 at 4:26 of the second period when he shot from left circle after a pass from William Nylander.
Dubois' goal six minutes later re-established the Blue Jackets' two-goal lead on a power play.
Wennberg gave Columbus some extra cushion with his goal in the third period. Marner made it a two-goal game again with 2:57 left, but the Blue Jackets held on from there.
NOTES: Maple Leafs C Auston Matthews missed his sixth consecutive game with an upper-body injury. He participated in the team's morning skate, and he could return soon. ... Blue Jackets D Zach Werenski sat out for the first time this season with an undisclosed injury. Werenski, who leads all NHL defensemen in goals with 10, had taken several maintenance days during recent practices. ... With Werenski out of the lineup, D Gabriel Carlsson was recalled from Cleveland of the American Hockey League. Carlsson has one assist in 10 games with the Blue Jackets this season. ... Maple Leafs LW James van Riemsdyk scored the 20,000th goal in franchise history on Tuesday in an 8-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. ... The Blue Jackets reassigned F Tyler Motte to Cleveland. He has one goal and one assist in 19 games for Columbus this season.