Marner paces Maple Leafs past Blue Jackets for fifth win in row

COLUMBUS -- Mitchell Marner had a goal and two assists, John Tavares scored twice, and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-2 at Nationwide Arena on Friday to extend their winning streak to five.

Frederik Gauthier scored, and Garret Sparks made 27 saves for Toronto (26-10-2), which has outscored opponents 27-12 during the streak.
"We played a pretty solid game," Tavares said. "Sparks] was solid when we needed him to be. Penalty kill was really sharp."
***[WATCH: [All Maple Leafs vs. Blue Jackets highlights]*
Nick Foligno and Artemi Panarin scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves for the Blue Jackets (22-13-3), whose five-game winning streak and seven-game unbeaten streak (6-0-1) ended.
The three games in the season series were all 4-2, with Toronto winning twice.
Tavares scored on the power play at 2:22 of the first period on Toronto's first shot for a 1-0 lead. He has seven goals and four assists in a six-game point streak.

Marner sent a pass from the right into the high slot for Nazem Kadri and Tavares got a piece of his redirect with his skate.
Tavares has 26 goals to tie Jeff Skinner of the Buffalo Sabres for second in the NHL. Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals has 29.
"I'm just trying to play … and be good in all areas and just be prepared to capitalize on chances, create and be hard to defend," Tavares said. "Playing with the players I play with you're going to get opportunities."
Foligno's snap shot from the right circle tied it 1-1 at 4:47.
Tavares put the Maple Leafs ahead 2-1 at 18:04 with a one-timer from the left dot from a drop pass by Marner.
"When he gets it, for me it's trying to find open space and kind of let him go to work on the people he goes to work on," Marner said. "If he needs me, I'm there to deflect."

The Maple Leafs did what they hoped to do in the first period. They had not played since Sunday while the Blue Jackets returned from the Christmas break to defeat the New York Rangers 4-3 in overtime at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.
"They were obviously well-rested. We were coming off a game," Foligno said. "They knew they had to come off the break the right way so they fed from their energy from probably having a few days off."
Marner made it 3-1 at 9:46 of the second period during a 4-on-4. He has 12 points (seven goals, five assists) in the past six games.
"That's probably the fastest team we've played all year," Blue Jackets defenseman Ryan Murray said. "They were flying a little bit. We played okay but we've played better.
"You've got to take away their time and space defensively. Given time they are going to make some plays."
Gauthier increased the lead to 4-1 at 13:44 of the third. His two goals this season have come in the past two games after not scoring in his first 27.
Panarin scored his 100th NHL goal with 1:28 remaining to draw the Blue Jackets within 4-2. He had 61 goals in 162 games for the Chicago Blackhawks, and 39 goals in 117 games for the Blue Jackets.

They said it

"We started better tonight, a lot better than I expected, to tell you the truth. It was nice to score early." -- Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock
"Out of the last four games, even tonight, I thought it was our best game. I thought we did some good things. We had some zone time, generated some chances. Their goalie played well. Give them some credit but some of our chances, especially from the back end, were shot wide." -- Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella
"It was a pretty good road game overall. Sometimes after few days off you can feel a little flat, just the rhythm and timing." -- Maple Leafs forward John Tavares

Need to know

Marner (40 assists) is the first Maple Leafs player to start his NHL career with 40-plus assists in his first three seasons. … Maple Leafs forward Patrick Marleau, 39, played his 1,613th NHL regular-season game (1,493 with the San Jose Sharks, 120 with Toronto) to move past Ray Bourque for 10th place on the NHL's all-time games played list. … The Blue Jackets went 0-for-2 on the power play and are 0-for-18 in the past seven games and 1-for-32 in the past 11. … Panarin has seven points (three goals, four assists) in a four-game point streak.

What's next

Maple Leafs:Host the New York Islanders on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, CBC, SN1, MSG+, NHL.TV)
Blue Jackets: Host the Ottawa Senators on Monday (7 p.m. ET; FS-O, RDS2, TSN5, NHL.TV)