Jackets squashed by Kadri
Hat trick leads Leafs to ninth win in last 10
A Nazem Kadri hat trick and superb goaltending from Frederik Andersen.
The simple math added up to another victory for the Maple Leafs Wednesday at the Air Canada Centre.
Kadri recorded his fourth career hat trick and Andersen stopped 54 shots as the Leafs won for the ninth time in 10 games, beating the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-3.
It’s the first time the Leafs have won all five games in a five-game home stand.
Kadri had two assists to give him a career-high five points. Kadri completed the hat trick at 11:21 of the third when Mitch Marner fed him a perfect pass.
The win came at a price for the Leafs, as defenceman Jake Gardiner left in the first period and did not return. While social media was abuzz with the idea that Gardiner had been traded, the Leafs announced at the start of the third period that Gardiner would not return because of a lower-body injury.
“They just told me he has some sort of lower-body thing and he has some kind of spasm or something like that and they couldn’t get it to relax,” Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. “So they would not let him come back.”
The Leafs have a day off Thursday, and Babcock was not sure whether Gardiner would practise Friday.
A Gardiner absence for any length of time would create a rather large hole on the Leafs’ blue-line. Not only was Gardiner leading the Leafs in ice time heading into the game with an average of 22 minutes 52 seconds, he has 35 points (four goals and 31 assists) in 58 games.
The Blue Jackets, who won eight of their previous nine games in Toronto, kept up their recent shoot-fromanywhere mentality.
After recording 101 shots on goal in their past two games combined (51 against the New York Islanders on Tuesday and 50 versus the New Jersey Devils on Saturday), the Jackets fired 57 at Andersen. The previous high given up by the Leafs this season was 48.
There was a standing ovation for Andersen in the third period and chants of “Freddie, Freddie!” after he made a point-blank toe save on Boone Jenner. Had the Jackets forward scored, the game would have been tied 4-4.
In 10 games since getting Marner as a linemate, Kadri has seven goals and eight assists.