TORONTO — Pierre-Luc Dubois scored his 3rd intention of the sport in overtime as the Columbus Blue Jackets stormed back from a 3- deficit to stun the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 on Thursday and take a 2-1 lead in their finest-of-5 qualifying spherical collection.
Soon after Leafs captain John Tavares turned the puck around in the offensive zone, Columbus broke back the other way, with Dubois roofing a backhand on a crack previous Frederik Andersen 18:24 into the more interval.
Seth Jones scored in regulation for the Blue Jackets, the No. 9 seed in the Eastern Convention as aspect of the NHL’s restart to its pandemic-delayed season.
Cam Atkinson additional two helps for Columbus, which can clinch a location in the common 16-slot playoff bracket with a victory in Match 4 on Friday night.
Joonas Korpisalo, who recorded a 28-help you save shutout in his submit-period debut in Video game 1 and was virtually as fantastic in Recreation 2, allowed 3 plans on 15 shots ahead of finding the hook in favour of Elvis Merzlikins in the next period of time with Toronto up 3-.
Merzlikins was excellent in aid, finishing with 21 will save.
Nick Robertson, with his 1st NHL aim, Cody Ceci and William Nylander replied for Toronto, the East’s No. 8 seed.
Andersen designed 40 will save for the Leafs, though Alexander Kerfoot and Kasperi Kapanen extra two assists every.
Down 3-1 heading into the 3rd, the Blue Jackets tied it up with goals 3:21 seconds apart as the Leafs came unglued.
Jones obtained Columbus within just one at 7:27 on a laser earlier Andersen’s ear just after Toronto couldn’t get the puck out in advance of Dubois, who obtained an earful from fiery Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella in the Leafs’ 3- victory in Match 2, beat the Toronto netminder on a 2-on-1 under the blocker at 10:49.
Andersen stopped Vladislav Gavrikov and Dubois on the doorstep with a lot less than 4 minutes still left in regulation ahead of Merzlikins robbed Auston Matthews from in restricted at the other end.
Matthews then turned the puck about in his individual zone with much less than 40 seconds on the clock, forcing Andersen to make a huge halt on Boone Jenner
The Leafs, who like Columbus had 81 factors when the plan was suspended in mid-March simply because of COVID-19, had been devoid of defenceman Jake Muzzin immediately after he was wounded on an uncomfortable collision late in Activity 2. The 31-12 months-aged — a person of Toronto’s leaders on and off the ice — was produced from clinic and is back at the crew hotel inside the safe zone, but unavailable for the rest of the sequence.
Martin Marincin dressed in Muzzin’s location, with Travis Dermott moving up into the prime-4 to play along with Justin Holl. Dermott and Holl skated together when Muzzin was out with foot and hand accidents ahead of the year was halted mainly because of COVID-19.
Toronto opened the scoring with 68 seconds remaining in the very first when killing a Dermott penalty when Kerfoot confirmed fantastic endurance off the rush. The centre observed Ceci arriving late, and he blasted a shot from effectively out that looked to be likely large, but rather bounced off the skate of Jones and pinballed earlier Korpisalo.
The goal, which arrived just after Mitch Marner thwarted Jenner at the lip of Andersen’s crease, was not only the first of Ceci’s post-time career, it was also the blue-liner’s to start with in 57 games and very first though limited-handed in the NHL.
The Leafs had a pair of great odds earlier in the interval, with Ceci, Marner, Kapanen and Tavares all coming close on Korpisalo, while Jenner rattled the crossbar at the rear of Andersen.
Toronto scored the initial ability-perform purpose of the sequence at 7:08 of the second when Marner, who discovered iron earlier in the interval, slid a go from the place down to Nylander, who built no blunder.
Robertson ongoing the barrage 1:40 later on when he took a feed from Kapanen and ripped his to start with NHL objective via Korpisalo from the remaining circle. The 18-yr-outdated winger, who put up 55 plans in 46 video games in the Ontario Hockey League in 2019-20, is the third Leafs participant to rating in the submit-period ahead of age 19, signing up for Jack Hamilton (1943 and 1944) and Ted Kennedy (1944).
Leafs ahead Jason Spezza, the oldest participant on the team at 37, gathered the puck for Robertson next the on-ice celebration.
Tortorella, who stated his team “sucked” in Game 2, pulled Korpisalo in hopes of having a spark, and got a response shortly soon after a Leafs’ penalty expired at 11:39 when Dubois solved Andersen.
Matthews, who experienced a objective and an aid in Recreation 2, arrived near to restoring Toronto’s three-target lead later on in the interval, but his shot clanked off Merzlikins’ in the vicinity of article just before Columbus pushed back again challenging in the third.
Toronto was selected as the “highway” team Thursday, which means the gamers wore their white uniforms inside an vacant Scotiabank Arena, which still showcased the franchise’s Stanley Cup banners and retired numbers hanging from the rafters.
As the 2nd sport of two games in the building, the Leafs were housed down the corridor from their typical locker area in the reigning NBA champion Toronto Raptors’ digs. The Raptors’ title banner also hung earlier mentioned the goal Toronto defended in the initially and 3rd periods.
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Aug. 6, 2020.
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