Leafs winning streak hits four
Zach Hyman scored the go-ahead goal late in the third period as the Toronto Maple Leafs stretched their winning streak to four with a 4-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday. The winger’s second goal of the season came with 4:22 left in regulation on a redirection of Morgan Rielly’s point shot after the Leafs won an offensive zone faceoff. Hyman then added an empty netter with 61 seconds left on the clock. John Tavares, with a goal and an assist, and Tyler Ennis also scored for Toronto (15-6-0). Frederik Andersen made 37 saves. Mitch Marner and Ron Hainsey each had two assists
The Leafs were coming off a three-game California sweep that improved their record away from home to a league-leading 9-1-0 and Monday’s win nudged them above .500 at Scotiabank Arena on the season to 6-5-0 after a sloppy, uninspired start to the night. Cam Atkinson and Pierre-Luc Dubois each had a goal and an assist for Columbus (12-7-2), while Sergei Bobrovsky made 22 stops. Atkinson stayed hot following a five-goal, three-assist outburst that earned him the NHL’s First Star honours for last week, but it wasn’t enough as the Blue Jackets lost in regulation for the first time in eight (5-1-2).
Toronto came in with the league’s third-best record, while Columbus was one spot back in fourth. Tied 2-2 through 40 minutes, Marner had a backhand chance for the Leafs from the slot with just over eight minutes to go after Tavares hit the side of the net. Andersen made a big save at the other end moments later on a scramble in his crease before Hyman redirected Rielly’s shot past Bobrovsky.
Columbus pulled Bobrovsky with 1:45 remaining on the clock, Down 2-0 after the first, Toronto got on the board with 6:59 left in the second when Ennis used a couple of spin moves to give himself some room before sliding his third through Bobrovsky’s fivehole from a tough angle. Andersen then stopped Josh Anderson’s move to the backhand on a breakaway to keep the Leafs down by one before Marner went to work on the equalizer.
The slick winger, who entered play fourth in league scoring with six goals and 20 assists, stepped past Columbus defenceman Scott Harrington before deftly tapping his own rebound back in front of Bobrovsky’s net for Tavares to score his 13th.
Despite coming out flat following victories over the Los Angeles Kings (5-1), San Jose Sharks (5-3) and Anaheim Ducks (2-1 in overtime) last week, Toronto could have easily found themselves up 2-0 early on Monday. Ennis hit the post on a 2-on1 break under three minutes in before Connor Brown somehow chipped a puck off the iron from the lip of the crease with a downand-out Bobrovsky at his mercy. With the victory, Leafs head coach Mike Babcock passed Red Kelly and Pat Burns to sit alone in fifth in franchise history with 133 regular-season coaching wins. Punch Imlach leads with 370 followed by Pat Quinn (300), Hap Day (259) and Dick Irvin (215).