UPDATE - The NHL has suspended defenseman Roman Polak for two games for his hit on Columbus forward Oliver Bjorkstrand.
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The Toronto Maple Leafs continued to make progress in their bid for a playoff spot with a 5-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday.
Leo Komarov, Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Nazem Kadri and Nikita Zaitsev scored for Toronto, who moved past the Boston Bruins into third place in the Atlantic Division and stayed three points ahead of the New York Islanders, who won 3-2 over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
The game started with Toronto intent on matching the Jackets trademark physicality, as Connor Carrick laid a big hit on forward Josh Anderson. The Leafs led 2-0 after 20 minutes, with Komarov scoring his 12th and Matthews his club-leading 33rd of the season.
Columbus responded in kind in the middle frame, getting on the scoreboard in the opening minute on David Savard’s point blast and tying the game on Brandon Saad’s 21st of the year, but Toronto stole back the momentum later in the second, as Nylander beat Jackets goalie Joonas Korpisalo with a wrist shot off the far post.
Columbus had a golden opportunity to tie the game early in the third, as Roman Polak smeared Jackets rookie Oliver Bjorkstrand along the boards and was given a boarding major and a game misconduct.
The lethal Columbus power play (one of the main reasons why they won 16 games in a row earlier this season) managed just one shot over a nearly seven minute man advantage, which was longer than the five-minute major given to Polak because Leafs coach Mike Babcock did not put a player in place of the Leafs defenseman in the penalty box.
“It’s all my fault. Let’s not kid ourselves.” Babcock said after the game.“It’s me, and you’ve got two assistants on the bench and two in the video room and you got 15 players sitting on the bench and you can’t get that done right. Now, often it happens and you just fire a guy in(the penalty box) but obviously it went the whole time and we didn’t do anything about it. In hindsight if that had cost (us), it’d be terrible right? So that will never happen in my lifetime again.”
It was a milestone night for the Leafs, as Matthews tied Winnipeg’s Patrik Laine for the NHL rookie scoring lead, Nylander scored his 20th of the year and extended his scoring streak to nine consecutive games, Kadri scored his 30th goal of the season and goaltender Frederik Andersen notched his 30th win.
Eric Fehr made a noticeable impression in his first game with the Leafs, leading the club with four hits, as a penalty killer and on the fourth line with Matt Martin and Brian Boyle, but according to the Toronto Sun’s
Lance Hornby, that may be the last time you see the veteran winger in a Leaf uniform.
Fehr may have suffered a broken left hand in the third period, as his left hand in a cast and arm in a sling at the Columbus airport following the game.
Polak is scheduled for a hearing with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety on Thursday and could be suspended for the game against the New Jersey Devils at Air Canada Centre.
Backup Curtis McElhinney is expected to get the start for Toronto after Andersen’s 32-save effort on Wednesday. With Fehr out and winger Nikita Soshnikov likely not available because of the after-effects of a check from Zdeno Chara on Monday, Babcock will likely go with Josh Leivo to play on the fourth line against the Devils.
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