Blue Jackets get the jump on Leafs
Toronto spots Columbus two first-period goals and can’t overcome deficit
COLUMBUS— Both Leafs head coach Mike Babcock and his Columbus counterpart, John Tortorella, stressed the importance of getting a good start Wednesday at the Nationwide Arena. Only one got his message through.
The Blue Jackets scored twice in the first period, and rode that advantage to a 4-2 win over the Leafs, who were playing for the second straight day.
“Obviously, getting started on time is important,” Babcock said prior to the game, referring in part to his team’s four-goal first in Tuesday’s win over Carolina. “Once (the Hurri- canes) started chasing the game, it opened up . . . but tonight there won’t be any room like that.”
Babcock was bang on. The Leafs and Blue Jackets were even for much of Wednesday — Toronto outshot Columbus 41-37 — but Lukas Sedlak and Seth Jones gave the Jackets a two-goal head start.
The Leafs got one back in the second on a Jake Gardiner goal but James van Riemsdyk took a penalty at the end of a strong shift and Pierre-Luc Dubois scored on the power play to restore the two-goal lead.
It was that kind of night for the Leafs: Another broken pass led to a clean break down the left side for Jones on the second goal, while a heavy hit in the corner on Connor Carrick led to a loose puck that was centered and converted by Sedlak for the first.
Alex Wennberg made it 4-1 late in the third, a goal which came when Carrick lost possession, and his stick, at the Columbus blue line. He chased Wennberg down the ice but had no stick to put a check on the Blue Jackets forward as he wristed the puck in the goal.
Mitch Marner scored a late goal, his second in as many games, on a pretty individual rush.
The Leafs could have been sharper in all cases, tighter on their checks and smarter with the puck. But they ultimately didn’t finish well in the offensive zone and were a pale version of the scoring machine the night before.
So Toronto lost for the fourth time in their last five games. Tortorella elected to start back up goalie Joonas Korpisalo, who entered the game with a 3-1 career record against Toronto, with two wins last season, and a .935 save percentage.
Tortorella let loose with a stream of thoughts Wednesday at the morning skate, with the subject being his team’s 1-3 record in the previous four games. Two of those losses were by 7-2 scores and Tortorella was talking about his team’s starts.
“I wouldn’t say (we’ve had) a lot this year . . . a lot lately,” he said. “We were one of the best teams going into the last five games. We were the top team as far as not giving up odd-man rushes. So why? To me it’s concentration, it’s just reading the play.
“We’re not changing that part of the game. We’re not going to dumb this down and keep our (defence) back home and throw it off the glass and chase it all night long.”