The Columbus Blue Jackets started well and then watched another home game slip away in the second period, falling 6-2 to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night, October 20, at Nationwide Arena in Columbus. Toronto scored four straight goals in the middle period to break open a tied game, handing Columbus its fourth loss in five games and dropping the Blue Jackets to 3-5-0 on the season.
Columbus took the early lead when defenseman Jake Christiansen scored his first goal of the season at 2:38 of the first period. The advantage did not last. Former Blue Jacket Kirill Marchenko, booed throughout his first visit back since being traded by Columbus, tied the game 1-1 with a power-play goal at 8:16 of the first. Kent Johnson appeared to put Columbus back in front with a one-timer, but the goal was waved off because time had expired.
The second period decided the game. William Nylander gave Toronto its first lead at 2:26, and Auston Matthews scored 46 seconds later. Easton Cowan added a short-handed goal at 6:48 to stretch the lead to three, before Jack Roslovic, another former Blue Jacket, made it 5-1 at 12:03 and chased starting goaltender Jet Greaves from the net. Greaves stopped 14 shots before he was pulled, and Cam Talbot played in relief.
Matthews finished with a goal and an assist in the 700th game of his NHL career, while Cowan and Roslovic each had a goal and two assists for Toronto. Nylander added a goal and an assist, and Morgan Rielly recorded three assists. Charlie Coyle scored the second Columbus goal, and Marshall Rifai closed the scoring for Toronto at 16:58 of the third period with the first goal of his NHL career.
The pattern is becoming a familiar problem for Columbus. According to the game reports, the Blue Jackets have now been outscored 15-3 in second periods through their first eight games. Dispatch coverage noted it was the second time in a week Columbus allowed four unanswered goals in a second period, after a similar collapse in a 7-3 home loss to the Florida Panthers on October 13.
For home fans, the Marchenko storyline added to a difficult night. The winger was the centerpiece of a blockbuster trade on September 28, according to Dispatch reporting, and he left Columbus with a goal in his return game while Toronto’s top lines produced multi-point nights from Matthews, Cowan, Roslovic, Nylander and Rielly.
Columbus will need a cleaner second period to change the trend, because the early leads are not holding and the middle-period deficits have been too large to overcome. The loss leaves the Blue Jackets looking for answers at home after giving up six goals, and the next test is whether they can protect a game for a full three periods instead of one strong opening stretch.