Leafs top Jackets, continue playoff push
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Leo Komarov, Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Nazem Kadri and Nikita Zaitsev scored goals, and the Toronto Maple Leafs continued their late-season push toward the playoffs with a 5-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday night at Nationwide Arena.
The surging Maple Leafs (34-23-15) moved past the Boston Bruins into third place in the Atlantic Division. Toronto is on a 6-1-1 run since returning from a West Coast trip.
The Blue Jackets (47-19-6) missed a chance to move into a tie atop the Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference standings with the Washington Capitals.
David Savard and Brandon Saad scored the Blue Jackets' goals in the second period.
Frederik Andersen finished with 32 saves for Toronto, and Joonas Korpisalo made 27 stops for Columbus.
Leading 3-2 entering the third period, the Maple Leafs weathered a five-minute major penalty and game misconduct against Roman Polak when he rammed Oliver Bjorkstrand into the boards. Toronto then added to its lead on a rebound goal by Kadri with 4:14 remaining and an empty-netter by Zaitsev with 2:47 left.
The Maple Leafs jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period.
Komarov scored the first goal of the game and his 12th goal of the season at 8:55 of the first. Two minutes later, Matthews gathered a rebound of his own shot during a power play in front of Korpisalo and shoved the puck into the net for his 33rd goal of the season.
Toronto dominated the action early in the chippy first period that saw players drop the gloves several times after crushing checks. A roughing call on Blue Jackets center Brandon Dubinsky resulted in the power play on Matthews' goal.
Blue Jackets center Nick Foligno crashed hard into the boards behind the Toronto goal with 14:34 left in the first period. He remained on the ice for several minutes but skated off to the locker room, and returned to the game three minutes later.
The Blue Jackets trimmed their deficit to 2-1 only 43 seconds into the second period on Savard's sixth goal of the season. Saad scored the equalizer at 6:58 of the second when he redirected a shot from the blue line by Zach Werenski for this 21st goal of the season.
After the Blue Jackets rallied to tie in the second period, the Maple Leafs moved back in front when Nylander beat Korpisalo stick side on a breakaway that made it 3-2 at 13:23. Nylander boosted his rookie-season totals to 20 goals and 53 points.
NOTES: The Blue Jackets sat LW Scott Hartnell as a healthy scratch and replaced him with rookie Lukas Sedlak. Coach John Tortorella elected to move Sedlak from center to Hartnell's spot on the fourth line. The move was not to rest Hartnell but a result of RW Oliver Bjorkstrand emerging since his Feb. 13 call-up from the American Hockey League. Bjorkstrand has six goals and four assists. ... Columbus G Sergei Bobrovsky sat out the front end of a back-to-back. The Blue Jackets travel to Washington on Thursday night for a Metropolitan Division showdown with the Capitals. ... Blue Jackets C Alexander Wennberg returned after missing Sunday's game against the New Jersey Devils with a stiff neck. ... Toronto also has a back-to-back, returning home on Thursday night to face the New Jersey Devils. ... The Maple Leafs signed 2015 second-round draft pick Jeremy Bracco to a three-year, entry-level contract. The 20-year-old has 147 points in 106 career OHL games.