Jackets don’t capitalize on only man-advantage

The Blue Jackets don’t get many power plays. They haven’t complained about it publicly, but the suggestion — whispered in the dressing room, or couched when spoken plainly — is they get very little respect as a perennial loser that only now is learning how to win on a big stage.

Those few man-advantages, then, must not be wasted. Even if they don’t score goals, they must be used to shift momentum, perhaps rattle or exhaust the opponent.

On Wednesday, the Blue Jackets were jumped physically early by the Toronto Maple Leafs to the tune of

of a 5-2 loss before 16,106 in Nationwide Arena.

David Savard and Brandon Saad scored goals for the Blue Jackets, while goaltender Joonas Korpisalo had 27 saves.

But the game fizzled for the Blue Jackets early in the third period when they let a five-minute power play pass with one shot on goal and one scoring chance.

Toronto’s Roman Polak flattened Blue Jackets rookie Oliver Bjorkstrand from behind (boarding) only 1:00 into the third, with the Leafs leading 3-2.

“We needed to do something there and we didn’t,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. “We needed to at least generate some momentum, and we didn’t do that. We just didn’t have a lot of guys making plays tonight.”

It was the Blue Jackets' only power play of the night. It was only their second power play in three games.

“Getting that amount of time, without getting too many chances … we have to be hungrier around the net, create some momentum for our team,” Saad said.

The Leafs were the hungrier team from the start. It was 2-0 barely halfway through the first period, and their play was punctuated by a flurry of hits from behind that the Blue Jackets thought could (should) have been penalized.

Brandon Dubinsky, Seth Jones and Nick Foligno all went Nasty wrister for a 3-2 lead late in the second.

One goal, one assist, plus-2.

Puck followed him all night; scored his 21st goal.

Toronto 2 1 2—5 Columbus 0 2 0—2

1, Toronto, Komarov 12 (Kadri), 8:55. 2, Toronto, Matthews 33 (Nylander, Gardiner), 10:54 (pp). Penalties—Dubinsky, CBJ, (roughing), 10:11; Atkinson, CBJ, (high sticking), 15:39.

—3, Columbus, Savard 6 (Dubinsky,

face-first into the boards without calls before the Bjorkstrand hit early in the third. Two games ago, center Alexander Wennberg suffered a strained neck when he was plowed into the boards against the New York Islanders.

Toronto’s physical tone was by design.

“Yeah, we wanted that,” Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. “The last time we came in here (a 5-2 Columbus win on Feb. 15) they abused us. We didn’t like that very much, and we thought it was important to respond.”

Polak’s hit on Bjorkstrand was the most egregious and the one that led to injury. Bjorkstrand, who had blood coming from his mouth or nose after the hit, did not return after the hit.

Tortorella said he had no update on Bjorkstrand after the game.

“You get frustrated,” Foligno said. “It’s such a gray area right now in the Jenner), 0:43. 4, Columbus, Saad 21 (Werenski, Gagner), 6:58. 5, Toronto, Nylander 20 (Bozak), 13:23. Penalties—Sedlak, CBJ, (tripping), 3:11.

—6, Toronto, Kadri 30 (Komarov, Zaitsev), 15:46. 7, Toronto, Zaitsev 4 (Gardiner), 17:13. Penalties—Polak, TOR, Major (boarding), 1:00; Polak, TOR, Misconduct (misconduct), 1:00.

Toronto 10-16-6—32. Columbus 13-11-10—34. Toronto 1 of 3; Columbus 0 of 1. Toronto, Andersen 30-15-14 (34 shots-32 saves). Columbus, Korpisalo 6-4-0 (31-27). 16,106. 2:30. league, but when you keep letting it go and letting it go, somebody gets hurt. Guys are in vulnerable positions when they’re hit.

“I don’t blame the officials. They’re trying to let things go and let us decide the games, but then something like this happens, and that’s frustrating.”

The Blue Jackets will need a better effort tonight in Washington, with first place in the league’s overall standings on the line.

“The Leafs got to a level faster than us, and that can’t be the case,” Foligno said. “We’re a team that needs to play at a high level all the time. Tonight they came out at a different level, and it took us a while to get there.

“That’s what’s great about this game is we have a chance (tonight) in Washington to get back on track, and we’ve done a good job of that all season.”