The Blue Jackets gave themselves a quick opening, then watched the game slip away in a hurry.
Columbus scored first 2:38 into the night, but Toronto answered with a second-period surge that buried the Jackets in a 6-2 loss at Nationwide Arena. The defeat dropped Columbus to 3-5, and it came with a familiar frustration: plenty of effort, not nearly enough finishing.
Jake Christiansen and Charlie Coyle scored for Columbus, with Coyle and Christiansen each picking up their first goals of the season. But the Maple Leafs controlled the decisive stretch, and the Jackets never recovered from the damage done after the early lead disappeared.
Jet Greaves had a rough outing, stopping 14 of 19 Toronto shots before being pulled for Cam Talbot. Talbot allowed one goal on three shots. Even with Columbus outshooting Toronto 37-22, most of that pressure came after the Jackets were already chasing the game.
The special teams numbers told their own story. Columbus went 0-for-6 on the power play, while its penalty kill managed to get through four of Toronto’s five chances. The Blue Jackets also won 47.4% of the faceoffs, going 27-for-57, and finished with 31 hits and five blocks.
Rick Bowness pointed to the power play and the lack of production from the top group, while also singling out one of his defensemen.
"We had six power plays tonight, and our top guys didn't get a single point. And saying that, I thought Zach Werenski was the best player on the ice for both teams.
I thought he was outstanding. Charlie Coyle, leading by example.
It is in there."
Adam Fantilli said there were no excuses for how Columbus handled the night, especially with Toronto on the second half of a back-to-back.
"They're on a back-to-back. We've been waiting for them.
We got to have it, whatever that looks like. The intensity, our game, getting on top of them.
There's absolutely zero excuses. They flew here last night.
We got to be the fresher team and have our legs and be the better team. And we just weren't."
Coyle echoed that frustration after the loss.
"I think we're seeing the same stuff over and over and I really don't want to even sit here and say it. It's just stuff we need to figure out right now. Stuff we should have figured out weeks ago."
On the team side, Columbus scored first for the fifth time this season. It also posted a season-high 31 hits, topping the 29 it registered in the previous game on Oct. 29 at Minnesota.
A few individual notes stood out despite the result. Dmitri Voronkov recorded his second assist of the season and added four penalty minutes.
Val Nichushkin collected his third assist, Cole Sillinger had his third assist and added three hits, and Emil Andrae picked up his second assist. Zach Werenski finished with eight shots and three hits, while Greaves was charged with the loss.
The Blue Jackets now head back home for Saturday’s meeting with the Vegas Golden Knights.
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