Game Preview: Blue Jackets Begin Tough Stretch With Battle Against Auston Matthews And The Toronto Maple Leafs

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

32–14–3 (67 points; .684%) ROSTER / SCHEDULE

7:00 P.M. – TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22ND NATIONWIDE ARENA  COLUMBUS, OH

BALLY SPORTS OHIO ESPN+ (Out of Market)

Winning seven of the last nine has been a huge step for the Columbus Blue Jackets, showing that despite being in somewhat of a rebuild, there are enough key players in place to field a competitive hockey team.

That statement will be put to the test this week, though, and it starts Tuesday night when the Blue Jackets go up against an angry Toronto Maple Leafs team. 

Toronto is coming off a 5-2 loss to the worst team in the league, the Montreal Canadiens, on Monday night. The Maple Leafs trailed 5-0 in the final period before a couple of goals in the final 20 minutes to make it respectable. 

Tuesday's game is just the start. The Blue Jackets travel to Sunrise to face the Florida Panthers on Thursday, to Raleigh for a Friday night battle against the Carolina Hurricanes, and return home Sunday for the Pittsburgh Penguins. As of Monday night, those four teams rank 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 7th in the NHL in points. 

RE: TORONTO

The Maple Leafs had to have redemption on their mind on the flight from Montreal to Columbus. They were -430 favorites to the Canadiens, and in a tight race for the Atlantic Division crown, every game is important at this point in the season. 

With 33 goals and 26 assists on the season, Matthews has been the leader of Toronto's offense, which is ranked 4th in the NHL at 3.55 goals per game. 22 of those 59 points (37%) have come with the Maple Leafs on the power play. Their 31.1% conversion rate on the man-up is the best in the league by a country mile — assuming a country mile is 4.2%. 

William Nylander and John Tavares are approaching 50 points on the season for Toronto. Nylander is second on the team behind Matthews with 19 goals, and Tavares's 17 goals is tied for third with forward Mitch Marner.

The Maple Leafs defense has improved from past seasons, too. Morgan Rielly and T.J. Brodie have been more than formidable as a top line, allowing an average of 2.13 goals per 60 minutes (Werenski and Peeke, by comparison, are at 4.68), and boasting a 56.9% goal percentage, meaning that almost three out of every five goals scored when they're on the ice have been Toronto goals.

STORYLINES

• WHO'S IN NET? 
  Jean-Francois Berube — the second Jean-Francois to play goaltender for the Blue Jackets (thank you, Labbe) — picked up his first win in about four years in Sunday's victory. At practice Monday, it was reported that goalies Elvis Merzlikins and Joonas Korpisalo were not at practice. Berube was fine Sunday, even earning third-star honors for his 33-save effort — he'll need to be better than great when he goes up against Toronto's previously mentioned offensive dominance. 
   
• LAINE'S AT NINE STRAIGHT
  Laine had a pair of assists in Sunday's 7-3 win over Buffalo. That make it at least one point in nine straight games, and seven of those nine have been multi-point games. Laine now has 33 points in 30 games this season. He won't break the record for points in a season thanks to an oblique injury that kept him out over a month, but his 16-17-33 pace through 30 games would put him on pace for 90 points over the course of a full 82-game season — that would break Artemi's Panarin record for the most points from a player in a single season. The argument against signing him long-term is a confounding one, as it's been made abundantly clear that the 23-year-old is a weapon that opposing defenses will need to figure out.

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