COLUMBUS --Joonas Korpisalo made 39 saves to help the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 4-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Nationwide Arena on Wednesday.
The backup to two-time Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky made his first start in nine games since Dec. 1 against the Anaheim Ducks, though he did play the third period against the Edmonton Oilers on Dec. 12. He said the key was being tested early, facing 12 shots in the first period. "It gets you going," Korpisalo said. "You get comfortable and it's kind of easy from there." WATCH: [All Maple Leafs vs. Blue Jackets highlights] Seth Jones had a goal and an assist, Lukas Sedlak, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Alex Wennberg scored, and Cam Atkinson had two assists for Columbus (21-13-1), which had lost two straight games. The Blue Jackets were coming off a 7-2 loss at the Boston Bruins on Monday. "Tonight we answered the right way," Columbus coach John Tortorella said. "It wasn't with our mouths. It wasn't rah-rah. We played hard. We were harder to play against." Jake Gardiner had a goal and an assist, Mitchell Marner scored, and Curtis McElhinney made 33 saves for Toronto, which has lost four of its past five (1-4-0).
Toronto coach Mike Babcock said playing for the second day in a row was no excuse because the Maple Leafs had an afternoon game Tuesday, defeating the Carolina Hurricanes 8-1 at home. "We were in at 8 o'clock last night. There's no reason for us not to be ready today," he said. "We weren't good enough. I thought we could have been better." Sedlak put Columbus ahead 1-0 at 12:57 of the first period with his fourth goal. Matt Calvert dug the puck out of the right corner off the forecheck and passed it to the slot. Sedlak got the puck, spun around to face the goal and scored inside the left post. Atkinson said getting a goal from the fourth line was a lift.
"It gets us pretty jacked up on the bench," he said. "It definitely gave momentum." Jones made it 2-0 with an unassisted goal at 18:45 of the first, scoring three seconds after Toronto's first power play ended. He intercepted a pass at the right face-off circle in Columbus' zone and led a 2-on-1 with Atkinson. Jones kept the puck and scored his sixth of the season. "Tough way to get out of the gate," McElhinney said. "There were some good minutes but it's tough to be down 2-0 on back-to-backs." Gardiner made it 2-1 at 4:26 of the second with his third goal. Dubois scored the seventh of his rookie season to make it 3-1 at 10:20 of the second with a power-play goal. The Blue Jackets entered Wednesday last in the in the NHL on the power play (10.2 percent).
Wennberg made it 4-1 at 11:51 of the third with his fourth goal. Marner scored his fourth of the season at 17:03 to make it 4-2, skating through the Blue Jackets defense and scoring from the right circle. He has two goals and three assists in the past two games after not scoring a goal in his previous 15. Babcock said he liked the play of Marner and linemates Tyler Bozak (assist) and James van Riemsdyk. Marner and van Riemsdyk each had a game-high seven shots. "I thought the Bozak line dominated the game," Babcock said. "They were the best they've been all year. They were good for us but we didn't have enough hands on deck."
Goal of the game
Jones' goal at 18:45 of the first period.
Save of the game
Korpisalo's save on van Riemsdyk at 5:20 of the third.
Highlight of the game
Marner's goal at 17:03 of the third.
They said it
"We need to get our confidence back. That starts with making simple plays. You saw how aggressive our forwards were tonight on the forecheck. We got on the forecheck right away in the first period, putting them under pressure, hitting them." -- Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones "We didn't compete hard enough. Their team competed harder than us." --Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock
Need to know
The Maple Leafs are 3-4-0 in the second of back-to-backs. … Toronto center Auston Matthews was scratched for the sixth straight game because of an upper-body injury. … The Blue Jackets are 15-3-1 when scoring first. … Wennberg has five points (two goals, three assists) in a four-game point streak. … Jones has three goals in the past four games. … Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski (undisclosed) did not play and was replaced by Gabriel Carlsson.
What's next
Maple Leafs: At the New York Rangers on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, CBC, MSG, NHL.TV) Blue Jackets: At the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; SN, TVA Sports, ATTSN-PT, FS-O, NHL.TV)
