Leafs finally solve Korpisalo, even series with Blue Jackets

All things considered, it was just one game, but the Columbus Blue Jackets head to work today hoping it wasn’t a turning point in its Eastern Conference Best of Five Qualification series with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

There’s two ways of looking at what happened in a 3-0 loss to the Leafs in Toronto Tuesday (August 4, 2020) – glass half full or glass half empty.

If you take the glass half empty look, you can’t deny the Leafs dominated this contest and if not for the efforts of Joonas Korpisalo in goal for the Blue Jackets things could have been much worse.

If you take the glass half full look, you realize that despite a 29-12 edge in shots through the first 40 minutes, the Leafs owned just a 1-0 lead and with a few more chances the momentum could have swung the Blue Jackets’ way.

Bottom line is, this is a Best of Three series now – both teams having pulled off a shutout win in the first two and the Blue Jackets hold home ice advantage, meaning a chance to make last change, through two of those three games.

Korpisalo’s shutout streak hit 96 minutes exactly before Auston Matthews finally found a way past him, redirecting a pass from Zach Hyman on a return pass to put the Leafs in front to stay.

John Tavares notched an insurance goal on a breakaway near the five minute mark of the second period and the final goal came from Morgan Rielly into an empty Columbus goal with 43 seconds to play.

Clearly the strategy for the Leafs was to shoot the puck more often and they were aided by a number of powerplay opportunities. Good news for the Blue Jackets was the Leafs failed to score in five powerplay tries, but a bulk of the credit for that again goes to Korpisalo.

The monstrous play of Korpisalo overshadowed a solid 20-save effort for Frederik Andersen of the Leafs who quietly has put together an impressive stretch as well, beaten just once on 54 shots (the other Columbus goal was fired into an empty net).

Riley Nash and Nick Foligno both collected three shots in the game to pace the Blue Jackets offensively and the workhorses on defense continue to be Zach Werenski and Seth Jones who both turned in 28-plus minutes on the blue line.

Rielly was the one Leafs player to get over 20 minutes, wrapping up with 24:37.

The game took an ominous turn in the final two minutes as Jake Muzzin was pushed from behind and took an awkward fall, face first into the shin pad of a Jackets player. After several eerily silent minutes under the attention of trainers and medical staff from both teams, he was stretchered off the ice. As of this morning (August 5) there is no definitive word on the severity of the injury other than the fact Muzzin is now in hospital in Toronto. With the quarantine rules that apply in the Toronto bubble, he is likely gone for at least the duration of this series.

The crucial third game in this series will be played Thursday (August 6) at 7 p.m. The Blue Jackets will inhabit the Leafs’ locker room as the home team and one thing is certain – no need to wait for it to be official – Joonas Korpisalo and Freddy Andersen will be the guys between the pipes.

 

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