Auston Matthews Continues Torrid Pace With Two Goals In Maple Leafs' 4-1 Win Over Blue Jackets

By Coby Maeir on December 23, 2023 at 9:44 pm
Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews (34) follows through on a slap shot for a goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets during the second period at Nationwide Arena.
Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports
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Auston Matthews tallied his 27th and 28th goals of the season while Martin Jones made 27 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-1 at Nationwide Arena on Saturday. 

  1 2 3 F
BLUE JACKETS 0 1 0 1
TOR MAPLE LEAFS 1 2 1 4

1st Period

Columbus nearly opened the scoring at 2:12 with Kent Johnson creative havoc around the net, leading to a David Jiricek slap shot that was gloved by Jones.

Mitch Marner had a great chance to put the Leafs on the board with a shot from the right doorstep but Daniil Tarasov made the save at 4:54.

After Dmitri Voronkov turned the puck over in the defensive zone, Marner got the puck, circled the net, and found Matthews with a cross-ice feed and Matthews fired a right-circle one-timer past Tarasov at 8:20.

With 18.4 seconds left in the first period, the game was halted after Sean Kuraly required medical attention in the tunnel after he took a hit behind the Maple Leafs' net. Kuraly is going to be okay after suffering what the club called an abdominal injury that does not appear to be serious. Bally Sports Ohio's Dave Maetzold reported that Kuraly is going to be okay.

After the first period, the Maple Leafs led 1-0 with both teams registering 14 shots on goal.

2nd Period

After Adam Fantilli's backhand feed provided a nice outlet for Johnny Gaudreau, he sent Justin Danforth on a goal-scoring breakaway to tie the game at 0:22. 

John Tavares retook the lead for Toronto at 2:58 with an incredible effort as he spun between Erik Gudbranson and Kirill Marchenko in the offensive zone and fired a goal from the left slot.

After a nice feed from Kent Johnson, Emil Bemstrom nearly tied the game at 5:10 with his left-circle shot but it hit the crossbar. 

Matthews added his second goal of the game on the power play at 8:21 with a right-circle one-timer off a saucer pass from Marner. 

The Leafs led 3-1 after two periods with both teams posting 19 shots on goal.

3rd Period

After Yegor Chinakhov hit the post and had a shot swatted away in the blueprint on back-to-back power plays, William Nylander scored a shorthanded goal with a right-circle wrist shot at 11:51 to give Toronto a 4-1 lead.

With the loss, the Blue Jackets fall to 11-18-6.

Stats

  • Shots on Goal: TOR 30-28 CBJ
  • Face-off %: TOR 54.7-45.3 CBJ
  • Power play: TOR 1/2-0/4 CBJ
  • Giveaways: TOR 2-4 CBJ
  • Takeaways: TOR 5-3 CBJ
  • Blocked shots: TOR 20-13 CBJ
  • Hits: TOR 9-6 CBJ
  • 5-on-5 stats (via naturalstattrick.com):
    • ​Expected Goals (xG): TOR 1.72-2.01 CBJ
    • Shot Attempts (CF): TOR 41-43 CBJ
    • Shots on Goal (SF): TOR 21-18 CBJ
    • Scoring Chances (SCF): TOR 23-20 CBJ
    • High-Danger Chances (HDCF): TOR 11-7 CBJ

Injury Update

  • Damon Severson returned to the lineup after a 15-game absence due to an oblique injury. 
  • Nick Blankenburg was placed on IR retroactive to Dec. 19 with an upper-body injury. He's listed as day-to-day.
  • Patrik Laine is expected to miss six weeks with a clavicle fracture suffered on Dec. 15 and is on IR retroactive to Dec. 14.
  • Boone Jenner is on IR and is expected to miss six weeks with a broken jaw he suffered on Dec. 8.
  • Adam Boqvist is expected to miss four weeks with a shoulder strain and is on IR retroactive to Dec. 5.
  • Jack Roslovic is on IR, and is expected to miss four to six weeks with a broken ankle he suffered on Nov. 12.

Next Up

The Blue Jackets return from the holiday break on Wednesday when they take on the Devils from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, at 7 p.m. ET on Bally Sports Ohio.

The club returns home to face the Maple Leafs for the third time in 15 days on Friday at 7 p.m. ET on Bally Sports Ohio.

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