NHL

Toronto Maple Leafs at Columbus Blue Jackets

· National Hockey League
Final
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Blue Jackets top Toronto 4-3 on Laine OT goal

Adam Boqvist and Brendan Gaunce also scored for Columbus, while Jean-Francois Berube stopped 39 shots and recorded his first NHL assist in his second straight win. The Blue Jackets have won eight of their last 10 games.

“They believe they can win and that goes a long way,” Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen said. “There is not a magic formula. They are good players and they are dangerous.”

Auston Matthews had a goal and two assists, Michael Bunting had a goal and an assist, and Jason Spezza added a goal for Toronto, which lost its third straight. Jack Campbell stopped 26 shots in the loss, which kept the Maple Leafs in third place in the Atlantic Division.

Bunting put Toronto on the board at 12:50 of the first period, tapping in a feed from Mitch Marner after a Columbus turnover.

Laine pulled Columbus even and extended his points streak to 10 games with a wrister off a drop pass from Boone Jenner that beat Campbell at 6:13 of the second.

“Right now there is a feeling we are going to get another chance, and there is a good chance it might go in,” Laine said.

Matthews gave Toronto the lead again at 15:23 with his team-leading 34th goal and 61st point of the season, off a feed from David Kampf that caught a reaching Berube looking.

“We’re leaving the rink a little bit sour, but I thought we did a lot of good things tonight,” Matthews said.

Boqvist made it 2-2 with a power-play goal at 1:05 of the third, taking a feed from Berube and skating through a pair of Maple Leafs defenders and giving Berube the first point of his NHL career.

Gaunce then grabbed a blueline turnover and raced the length of the ice to score for the second straight game and make it 3-2 at 7:13 of the third.

Spezza tied the game 3-3 with 2:06 remaining and Toronto with an extra skater.

“I thought our guys competed hard, played with structure," Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. "(We) easily could have had two points here.”

COMING BACK

The Blue Jackets have come from behind in 16 of their 26 wins, including six of their last eight victories.

ON POINT

Laine has points in 10 straight games, including 12 goals, and eight of those games have been multi-point efforts. With his assist on Laine’s goal, Boone Jenner extended his assist streak to four games and notched his team-leading 40th point of the season. With the secondary assist, Zach Werenski extended his points streak to five consecutive games (2-5-7). Werenski is now two points shy of tying Seth Jones’ franchise mark for points by a defenseman (223).

SUIT UP

Defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin wore a Maple Leafs sweater for the first time since coming over from the Arizona Coyotes along with forward Ryan Dzingel.

INJURY UPDATE

Toronto defenseman Jake Muzzin did not travel to Columbus and is in concussion protocols after leaving Monday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens. He hit his head on the ice following a collision with Chris Wideman.

UP NEXT

Maple Leafs: Host Minnesota Thursday night.

Blue Jackets: At Florida Thursday night.

Regular Season Series

Series tied 1-1

Scoring Summary

Goal 1st Period 12:50
Goal 2nd Period 6:13
Goal 2nd Period 15:23
Goal 3rd Period 1:05
Goal 3rd Period 7:13
Goal 3rd Period 17:54
Goal 4th Period 0:20

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/tor.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originTOR https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/cbj.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originCBJ
10 Blocked Shots 20
11 Hits 24
8 Takeaways 8
42 Shots 30
0 Power Play Goals 1
3 Power Play Opportunities 2
0.0 Power Play Percentage 50.0
0 Short Handed Goals 0
0 Shootout Goals 0
29 Faceoffs Won 34
46.0 Faceoff Win Percent 54.0
1 Giveaways 9
2 Total Penalties 3
4 Penalty Minutes 6
Columbus Blue Jackets Columbus Blue Jackets Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Zach Werenski, D Out Mar 5
Toronto Maple Leafs Toronto Maple Leafs Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Bobby McMann, C Out Mar 4
Scott Laughton, C Out Mar 4
Oliver Ekman-Larsson, D Out Mar 4
Chris Tanev, D Injured Reserve Mar 4

Game Information

Nationwide Arena

Location: Columbus, OH
Attendance: 15,489 | Capacity:

2025-26 Atlantic Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Tampa Bay 38 17 80 4
Buffalo 37 19 80 6
Detroit 35 20 77 7
Montreal 33 18 75 9
Boston 34 21 73 5
Ottawa 29 22 67 9
Toronto 27 25 65 11
Florida 30 29 63 3

2025-26 Metropolitan Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Carolina 39 16 84 6
Pittsburgh 31 17 75 13
NY Islanders 35 22 75 5
Columbus 32 21 72 8
Washington 31 25 69 7
Philadelphia 28 22 67 11
New Jersey 31 29 64 2
NY Rangers 24 29 56 8
Full Standings