Nyquist’s penalty shot in overtime lifts Blue Jackets to win over Leafs
TORONTO » Gustav Nyquist scored on a penalty shot 1:57 inot overtime to give the Columbus Blue Jackets a 4-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday night.
Riley Nash, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Alexander Wennberg scored in regulation for Columbus, and Nick Foligno had two assists. Joonas Korpisalo stopped 28 shots.
Auston Matthews had a goal and an assist, and William Nylander and Kasperi
Kapanen also scored for Toronto. Andreas Johnsson and Jake Muzzin each had two assists, and Frederik Andersen finished with 34 saves.
Andersen stopped Dubois on a breakaway seconds into overtime. He then robbed Wennberg, before Nyquist was hooked by Mitch Marner on another 1-on-1 chance at the end of a long shift for the Maple Leafs.
With fans inside Scotiabank Arena voicing their displeasure, Nyquist moved in and beat Andersen under the glove for his second goal of the season.
Playing their second game since captain John Tavares suffered a broken finger that will keep him out until at least early November, the Maple Leafs were far from their best with a number of sloppy sequences at both ends of the rink. Still, they led 3-2 after 40 minutes.
Columbus tied it up, however, on a power play at 10:09 of the third when
Wennberg scored his second after Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly blocked Zach Werenski’s initial shot.
Andersen, who recovered nicely after allowing goals on the Blue Jackets’ first two shots of the game, stopped Cam Atkinson on a breakaway with under four minutes left in regulation.
Nylander put the Leafs ahead 3-2 with 14.5 seconds left in the middle period when Matthews grabbed a loose puck in the slot and saw his initial shot stopped by Korpisalo. Johnsson heeled the rebound and it found Nyander, who buried his third goal of the season to snap a four-game point drought.
Despite his early blemishes, Andersen was the story for Toronto most of the period.
The goalie stopped Ryan Murray from the slot early in the second and then stacked the pads to deny Dubois later on after a turnover by Muzzin before Nylander pushed his team ahead.
Coming off consecutive 3-2 overtime losses to the Chicago Blackhawks and New York Islanders, the Blue Jackets jumped out to that 2-0 lead in front of a stunned Scotiabank Arena crowd.
Nash got things started with Columbus killing a penalty just 2:31 in when he stole the puck from Marner in Toronto’s end. The center fed Foligno in front, and he passed right back to Nash, who made no mistake for his first.