Maple Leafs, Blue Jackets must 'reset' selves in Game 5 of Cup Qualifiers

With memories of one of the most crushing losses of his NHL career still fresh in his mind, Nick Foligno came down from his hotel room Saturday morning and was greeted with smiles from his Columbus Blue Jackets teammates.

The captain would not have expected anything different.

Less than 12 hours earlier, Columbus had blown a late three-goal lead in historic fashion and lost 4-3 in overtime to the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 4 of the best-of-5 Stanley Cup Qualifiers at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Instead of wallowing in the frustration of missing a chance to eliminate Toronto, the Blue Jackets, the No. 9 seed in the Eastern Conference, have set their sights on taking advantage of their second chance to finish off the Maple Leafs, the No. 8 seed in the East, in Game 5 on Sunday in Toronto, the conference hub city (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, TVAS, FS-O).

"This isn't going to faze us," Foligno said. "You know, there was an upbeat group at breakfast today, and we know we have a great opportunity in front of us. So we're not going to let that go to waste just because it's something that went wrong in one game.

"I mean, this is going to be how it's going to probably go all playoff long. There's things that are going to go wrong, and it's how you respond and how you get ready for the next shift or the next game."

To the forward's point, the key to winning this series could be handling the emotions of Friday and approaching the series finale as a win-or-go-home game.

For the Blue Jackets, that means not getting too low after becoming the first team to lose a potential series-ending NHL postseason game after leading by three goals with less than four minutes remaining in the third period.

For the Maple Leafs, it means not getting overconfident and thinking the series has shifted in their favor.

It's a message Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe has been drilling into his players.

Keefe understands the euphoria of such a rousing win can't simply be siphoned out of the Toronto dressing room. The raw joy he witnessed from his players after the game was at a level he'd never experienced since replacing Mike Babcock on Nov. 20.

Those emotions are real, they're tangible, and they can be used as motivation in Game 5. But only if they are tempered, Keefe said.

"[The win] was a huge boost for us," Keefe said Saturday. "It gives us great positive momentum. The enjoyment that I saw from our team is beyond anything I've seen from us. The moment reflected that.

"But while we have to bring that momentum forward with us, we have to realize that this is a new game and we have to have a better start than we did yesterday. And we have to recognize the opposition is going to reset themselves. Both teams are going to leave it all out there tomorrow."

It looked as if Toronto's season was over when defenseman Morgan Rielly was stripped of the puck at his own blue line, leading to Boone Jenner's goal at 14:18 of the third period that gave Columbus a 3-0 lead. The image of a devastated Rielly, hunched over with a pained look on his face after the goal, appeared to be the symbol of a team that had once again seemingly underachieved in the eyes of their fans.

But a goal by Maple Leafs forward William Nylander at 16:03 ignited the stirring comeback. John Tavares followed with a goal at 16:54, and Zach Hyman forced overtime with 23 seconds left.

Auston Matthews scored on the power play at 13:10 of overtime to complete the comeback.

Maple Leafs forward Mitchell Marner, who had three assists, said the excitement made it difficult to sleep Friday night. "The adrenaline does keep you up a little bit," he said.

Marner said he and his teammates are taking a pragmatic approach to Game 5 and that the lessons they learned from the experience will go a long way.

"We have to play smart with the puck," he said. "We know their chances are coming off the turnovers we're giving them on the odd-man rushes the other way. For our team I think doing well in our D-zone, staying tight, staying five-man …

"We can't beat ourselves. We have to play the way we want to, forecheck fast, being physical on that first touch and getting to the net."

For the most part, the Blue Jackets' top defense pair of Seth Jones and Zach Werenski has done an admirable job of slowing down the Marner-Matthews-Hyman line, which has 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) in the series. Werenski left Game 4 at 9:08 of the third third period, but will be back in the lineup for Game 5.

As part of the NHL Return to Play Plan, a team is not permitted to disclose player injury or illness information.

The winner will advance to the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the No. 7 seed from the East and face the Tampa Bay Lightning, the No. 2 seed, in the first round.

The loser of Game 5 will home dreaming of what might have been and have a 12.5 percent chance at the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft in the Second Phase of the NHL Draft Lottery on Monday.

With or without Werenski, Kekalainen was asked how the Blue Jackets will regroup.

"Just getting ready for Game 5," he said. "I mean, nobody expected this to be easy."