Blue Jackets hand Leafs fourth loss in five games

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Backup goaltender Joonas Korpisalo helped the Columbus Blue Jackets put a distressing loss at Boston behind them.

Returning home Wednesday night, Columbus topped the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2, with Korpisalo stopping 39 shots in one of his strongest games of the season.

Korpisalo played in just his eighth game, starting in place of Sergei Bobrovsky on the first night of a back-to-back.

“The guy that is the second goalie not only needs to play the games but needs to win games if we want to get where we want to go in April,” Columbus coach John Tortorella said. “Korpi has found his way here.”

Seth Jones had a goal and an assist for the Blue Jackets, who never trailed in snapping a twogame losing streak — including the 7-2 rout at the hands of the Bruins two days ago. They moved into a tie for second place in a traffic jam of teams battling for the top spot in the NHL’s tough Metropolitan Division.

Lukas Sedlak, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Alexander Wennberg also scored for Columbus, and Cam Atkinson had two assists.

“I thought the guys were really dialled in before the game,” Korpisalo said.

Jake Gardiner scored in the second period and Mitchell Marner added another goal in the third for Toronto (21-14-1), which has lost four of its last five.

Former Blue Jackets goalie Curtis McElhinney, starting for Toronto in place of Frederik Andersen on the second leg of a back-to-back, had 33 saves.

“I just thought we didn’t compete hard enough,” Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. “Their team competed harder than us. There was no reason for us not to be ready here today.”

Sedak opened the scoring for the Blue Jackets (21-13-1) in the first period. Matt Calvert gathered in the puck in the right corner and fired out to Sedlak, who spun and snapped it in off McElhinney’s hip at the 12:57 mark.

Jones got a short-handed goal with 1:15 left in the period. He intercepted a pass in the defensive zone, carried the puck all the way and back and wristed it past McElhinney’s glove for his sixth of the season.

“We needed to get our confidence back, I think, and that starts with just making simple plays,” Jones said.

AP Players from both teams and an official intervene as Toronto’s Matt Martin, centre, scuffles with Josh Anderson of the Blue Jackets Wednesday night in Columbus, Ohio.