Easton Cowan and Jack Roslovic each recorded a goal and two assists to propel the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 6-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday. A four-goal second period carried Toronto past Columbus after the teams entered the first intermission tied.
Jake Christiansen opened the scoring for the Blue Jackets at 2:38 of the first period with his first goal of the season, assisted by Dmitri Voronkov and Valeri Nichushkin. Kirill Marchenko responded for Toronto at 8:16 on the power play, deflecting in a shot off assists from Auston Matthews and William Nylander to tie the game at 1-1.
The Maple Leafs took complete control early in the second period with two goals in a 46-second span. Nylander scored with a wrist shot at 2:26 off feeds from Morgan Rielly and Colton Sissons to break the tie, and Matthews followed at 3:12 with a snap shot assisted by Roslovic and Cowan. Cowan expanded the lead at 6:48 by converting a shorthanded wrist shot, and Roslovic tipped in a pass from Rielly and Cowan at 12:03 to push Toronto's edge to 5-1.
Columbus narrowed the deficit to 5-2 at 4:13 of the third period when Charlie Coyle scored his first goal of the season on a backhand shot, assisted by Cole Sillinger and Emil Andrae. Marshall Rifai closed the scoring for Toronto at 16:58 with a slap shot for his first goal of the year, assisted by Rielly and Roslovic. Rielly finished the evening with three assists.
Anthony Stolarz earned the win in net for Toronto, stopping 35 of 37 shots. For Columbus, starting goaltender Jet Greaves took the loss after turning aside 14 of 19 shots through two periods before being replaced by Cam Talbot, who made two saves on three shots. Toronto went 1-for-5 on the power play and added a shorthanded goal, while killing off all six power plays awarded to the Blue Jackets.
The victory improved the Maple Leafs to 5-4-2 on the season and extended their winning streak to two games. Columbus dropped to 3-5-0 and remains winless in two consecutive games.
Toronto returns home to host the New York Rangers on Thursday. The Blue Jackets continue their schedule at home against the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday.
