What We Learned: TOR 6, CBJ 3

TORONTO - They piled on a mountain of shots again, but this time the Blue Jackets couldn't get to the mountaintop Wednesday at Air Canada Centre.
The Blue Jackets put 57 shots on on net, the second most in a game in franchise history, but the Toronto Maple Leafs still won, 6-3, backed by 54 saves from Frederik Andersen. ]It was the third straight game Columbus has reached 50 shots .
According to the NHL, that's a feat that hadn't been reached since the 1950s, before the league's expansion era began in 1967-68. The only other team to record 50-plus shots in three straight games was the Chicago Blackhawks in 1955-56, with 51 on Oct. 9, 1955 against Toronto, 54 on Oct. 15 against Detroit and 51 on Oct 16 of that year.
"We just have a good flow offensively, but if you have a good flow offensively, the next step is to finish," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. "The past couple games we have. Tonight we had a number of different chances, even when we were down ... I like the way we played, but we don't finish the game. We don't get anything out of it. That's the hard part of it."
Kadri had the finishing touch for the Maple Leafs, with five points while Patrick Marleau had a goal and two assists to lead Toronto offensively.
Nick Foligno had his first three-point game since last season, with two goals and an assist, and Alex Wennberg had two assists to lead the Blue Jackets (29-24-4).
"I was hoping [a third goal] was in there somewhere," Foligno said. "[Andersen] made a lot of good saves. I really liked our line tonight. We were around the puck and doing the right things. It just sucks to lose a game where you really feel like you do a lot of good things. Hard one to swallow, but we've got to get ready for a big one Friday."
Joonas Korpisalo started in net for Columbus, which split a road back-to-back after defeating the New York Islanders 4-1 on Tuesday at Barclays Center.
"I don't think we gave them that much [in scoring chances], but the problem tonight for us was we couldn't finish," Tortorella said. "We had ample opportunity to finish, and we didn't. But I like the way we played."
Here's what we learned:

I: WHAT IT MEANS
The Blue Jackets missed an opportunity to gain ground on the New Jersey Devils and Carolina Hurricanes in both the Metropolitan Division standings and wild-card chase.
Columbus (62 points) was the only team from the Metro in action Wednesday and could've passed the Hurricanes (63 points) for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. The loss makes the Jackets' upcoming games this weekend against the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins loom even larger with 25 games remaining.
II: THE SHOTS KEEP COMING
Another game, another opposing goalie got peppered with shots from start to finish by the Blue Jackets, who've now outshot their opponent by a total of 283-173 over the past six games and became the first team since the NHL's expansion era began in 1967-68 to have three straight games with 50-plus shots.
They didn't reach their franchise-record of 26 in one period, as they'd done twice in a 10-day span this month against the Islanders, but had a 41-19 advantage through the first 40 minutes against the Maple Leafs. Columbus outshot Toronto 19-12 in the first period and 22-7 in the second, but trailed 4-3 starting the third.
In the final period, the Jackets had a 16-9 shot advantage but couldn's score.
"I hope that doesn't stop," Foligno said of the deluge of shots being taken by Columbus. "We need to continue to go. It's hard. You can see they're tired. I mean, their D are exhausted. We're all oer them. Man, if we play like that against a lot of teams, it's going to be dangerous."

III: TAKE THE 10/71 TO GOAL TOWN
Columbus battling back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game was impressive. How they did it was, at the very least, reassuring to those wondering if guys like Wennberg and Foligno had a hot streak left in them for the stretch run.
That duo was dynamic for Columbus, combining to score goals late in the first and early in the second to tie it, 2-2. Both goals were scored by Foligno, who potted his 12th and 13th goals off great feeds from Wennberg. Foligno added an assist on Jack Johnson's goal late in the second to make it 4-3 with 5:25 left in the second.
It was Foligno's first three-point game of the season and first three-point outing since Dec. 29, 2016 last season against the Winnipeg Jets. It was Wennberg's fifth two-point game of the season, first since Jan. 25 against the Arizona Coyotes.

IV: HATS OFF TO KADRI
Nazem Kadri spoke with a group of reporters during Toronto's optional morning skate Wednesday and was asked who the best all-around athletes were on the Maple Leafs.
He picked Auston Matthews, Tyler Bozak and then ... himself.
"I'd like to throw myself in that category," he said, smiling. "I'm not sure how they'd feel about that, but there's a few guys. To get to this level, you've got to be athletically pretty gifted, and there certainly some guys that are."
In the game, Kadri used that athleticism to help create some odd-man rush situations that wound up with the puck in the Blue Jackets' net -- three off his stick. Kadri added two assists for a five-point night.
It was too much for the Blue Jackets to overcome, despite their dominant puck possession numbers and another barrage of shots.
V: 'KORPI' GETS THE CALL
Korpisalo got the nod in net and had a tough night. He took the loss and has now lost in three of his past four starts, going back to New Year's Eve against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Nationwide Arena. This was Korpisalo's first game for the Blue Jackets since Feb. 3 against the Islanders, which the Blue Jackets lost, 4-3.
Korpisalo has shuttled between Columbus and the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League this season while trying to stay sharp by getting in some AHL starts. His last game for the Monsters was Feb. 9, while the Blue Jackets were on the road against the Washington Capitals.
The first two goals against Korpisalo on Wednesday went into the net high to the short side in the first period. The second two were off 2-on-1 rushes in the second. After holding opponents to two goals in four starts Nov. 7 to Dec. 20, Korpisalo has allowed 15 goals in his past four games.

VI: DON'T MAKE 'ANDY' ANGRY
Generally speaking, Josh Anderson is a pretty mild-mannered guy. Every so often, however, something will happen in a game that sets him off.
Back in October, it was towering Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara running him into the end boards that did the trick. Anderson turned around with fire in his eyes, looking for the culprit, and Chara offered him an invitation to fight.
Anderson accepted and held his own in impressive fashion.
Wednesday night, Toronto defenseman Roman Polak was the recipient, and he didn't have any time to prepare. After Boone Jenner ran into Andersen near the left post early in the first period, Polak shoved Jenner hard and knocked him off-balance. In the blink of an eye, Anderson did the same to Polak with even more force.
Anderson picked up the only penalty for roughing.
"I just saw Polak pushing around guys, and we only had one guy there, so I just tried to come in and protect my teammates," Anderson said. "We talked about protecting the blue and sticking up for teammates, and that's what everyone in this room is going to do. We're getting better at that the last couple games, so we're going to continue to do that."
VII: VIDEO BOARD CONUNDRUM
Prior to the game, the giant video board above center ice hung a lot lower than usual at Air Canada Centre.
It got stuck in that position after being lowered for repairs in the afternoon, and there was concern it might affect the game's start time -- if not postpone it altogether.
As the maintenance crew worked to find a solution, several Blue Jackets and others watched from a tunnel at rink level. Some wondered would've happened had the game been canceled, but luckily the issue was resolved about an hour before puck drop.
Good thing, too. There was a planned in-game wedding proposal planned, which involved the giant video screens. It
VIII: NEXT UP
The schedule brings the Blue Jackets back home to Nationwide Arena for two big games this weekend against Metropolitan Division opponents, including Sunday against the rival Pittsburgh Penguins.
Prior to that one, however, the Philadelphia Flyers come to town Friday (7 p.m., Fox Sports Ohio, Fox Sports Go, 97.1 FM). The Flyers are third in the Metro with 66 points, two behind the second-place Penguins, and had a four-game winning streak snapped in a 5-4 shootout loss Tuesday to the New Jersey Devils.