The Toronto Maple Leafs staged a spectacular comeback from a 5-0 deficit to go into overtime, but still lost 5-6 to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night at Scotiabank Arena.
Kent Johnson sealed the outcome of the game with assists from Zach Werenski and Justin Danforth with 2:34 left in overtime.
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Auston Matthews, currently on fire, scored two goals in a 30-second span in the final moments of the third period, including the goal that made overtime possible. Mitch Marner, William Nylander and Jake McCabe also responded to the local favorites.
The Blue Jackets' task is therefore not made easy. Then in the enclave, Patrik Laine opened the scoring at the start of the first period by receiving a great pass from young Johnson. The party continued until the end of the second period when Pascal Vincent's men returned to the locker room with a 5-0 lead after 40 minutes of play.
Johnson, Danforth, Yegor Chinakhov and Johnny Gaudreau also hit the red light for the visitors. Defensemen Werenski, Ivan Provorv and David Jiricek each had two assists in the win.
Note that Columbus goalkeeper Elvis Merzlikins made 43 saves on 48 shots. His Maple Leafs counterpart, Ilya Samsonov, dropped the flag six times out of his opponents' 35 attempts.
Toronto will look to return to victory by hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. The Blue Jackets face the New Jersey Devils on the same day.
A point in the seventh game in a row for the Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers scored at least one point for the seventh straight game in a 4-3 shootout win over the Washington Capitals.
Flyers forward Bobby Brink scored the decisive goal in the shootout.
Like the Maple Leafs, Philadelphia trailed at the end of the game, but Owen Tippett sent the two teams into overtime with a shot from the blue line that deceived the alertness of Charlie Lindgren on the glove side.
The Pennsylvania team had taken the lead and scored the first goal of the game through Bobby Brink, but two unanswered goals from the Capitals, from Connor McMichael and Tom Wilson, gave them a 2-1 lead after two periods.
Joel Farabee tied the score 5:25 into the final period before Dylan Strome gave his team the lead again.