The Toronto Maple Leafs lost against the Columbus Blue Jackets this Monday night. Mike Babock’s guys went through overtimes and still couldn’t beat the guests from Ohio, who got away with a 4-3 victory.
The game at the Scotiabank Arena was intense right from the start, and the spectators had the opportunity to see one interesting battle. Both teams had a lead, Toronto came back following a two-goal deficit, the Blue Jackets eventually leveled the score in the third and bounced back, etc. All that happened in Toronto.
Eventually, Gustav Nyquist‘s goal with 1:57 into the overtime decided the winner. Mitch Marner previously hooked the Blue Jackets‘ winger, and the officials awarded a penalty shot. Even though the fans at the Scotiabank Arena turned up the volume and tried to deconcentrate the 30-year old, he routinely beat Frederik Andersen.
Mike Babcock, the Maple Leafs coach, was not pleased with the way his team played, and especially with the discipline on the ice.
“The issues for us … discipline and shift length,” Babcock said. “We do lots of good things. The ability to maintain it and do it for 60 (minutes) hasn’t been something that we’ve done.”
He was criticizing the players after the game, and even publicly told them to grow up, and focus on their professional obligations, because NHL doesn’t tolerate anything less than the maximum dedication to your job.
“You’ve got to mature and grow up as a group for that to happen. You just have to,” Babcock added.
This was the first time in modern history for the Maple Leafs to lose in the overtime at home after a penalty shot.
The game started badly for the home team, which was two goals behind after almost 6 minutes. At first, Riley Nash beat Andersen, to bring the lead to the shorthanded guests. Pierre-Luc Dubois doubled the lead with 5:56 into the game, after the puck deflected off Martin Marincin’s skate following Dubois’ shot.
However, the home team managed to bounce back. Kasperi Kapanen decreased the deficit, although the Maple Leafs happened to be shorthanded in those moments, and 39 seconds before the end of the opening sequence, Auston Matthews scored his 7th goal of the season.
There were no goals in the second period, up until 17 seconds before the end of the same. William Nylander’s rebound goal seemed to be the turning point of the game. The home team took the lead, they came back and more importantly delivered a hit near the end of the sequence.
But John Tortorella’s guys didn’t want to go down that easy. The Blue Jackets recovered, and Zach Werenski equalized with 10:09 before the end. The game went to the overtimes, where guests played better, and we can say without hesitation, deserved to win.
“We worked hard for each other tonight, and we talked about making sure we stayed on the right side of people tonight defensively, and I think we did that for the most part,” said Nyquist at the press. Up next, Columbus plays against the Carolina Hurricanes at home on Thursday, while Toronto heads for Boston to meet the Bruins this Tuesday.
