Blue Jackets top Toronto 4-3 on Laine OT goal

Published 10:45 pm Tuesday, February 22, 2022

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Patrik Laine scored his second goal of the game 20 seconds into overtime to lift Columbus to a 4-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night, the Blue Jackets’ third straight win.

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.

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.

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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.

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.

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.

UP NEXT

Maple Leafs: Host Minnesota Thursday night.

Blue Jackets: At Florida Thursday night.

Toronto 1 1 1 0 3
Columbus 0 1 2 1 4

First Period–1, Toronto, Bunting 17 (Matthews, Marner), 12:50. Penalties–Chinakhov, CBJ (Hooking), 7:51; Voracek, CBJ (Tripping), 18:55.

Second Period–2, Columbus, Laine 17 (Werenski, Jenner), 6:13. 3, Toronto, Matthews 34 (Kampf, Bunting), 15:23. Penalties–Nylander, TOR (Holding), 0:39; Gavrikov, CBJ (Cross Checking), 8:36; Rielly, TOR (Hooking), 19:49.

Third Period–4, Columbus, Boqvist 10 (Berube), 1:05 (pp). 5, Columbus, Gaunce 3, 7:13. 6, Toronto, Spezza 10 (Matthews, Tavares), 17:54. Penalties–None.

Overtime–7, Columbus, Laine 18 (Voracek, Werenski), 0:20. Penalties–None.

Shots on Goal–Toronto 10-17-15-0=42. Columbus 14-5-10-1=30.

Power-play opportunities–Toronto 0 of 3; Columbus 1 of 2.

Goalies–Toronto, Campbell 23-8-4 (30 shots-26 saves). Columbus, Berube 2-0-0 (42-39).

A–15,489 (18,500). T–2:32.

Referees–Beaudry Halkidis, Peter MacDougall. Linesmen–CJ Murray, Vaughan Rody.