TORONTO — Auston Matthews scored late in the second period to finally solve Columbus goalie Joonas Korpisalo as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Blue Jackets 3-0 on Tuesday to even their best-of-five qualifying round series at one game apiece.
John Tavares added an insurance goal in the third, while Frederik Andersen stopped 18 shots to record his first post-season shutout with Toronto, the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference as part of the NHL’s 24-team restart to its pandemic-delayed campaign. Morgan Rielly added an empty netter with 42.6 seconds left.
It wasn’t all good news for the Leafs, however, who lost Jake Muzzin to a scary injury late in the third period when the Toronto defenceman appeared to jam his neck after falling awkward into the back of Blue Jackets winger Oliver Bjorkstrand’s leg while killing a penalty.
Muzzin tried to get up and appeared to be moving his extremities, but couldn’t rise to his skates. He was attended to by a trainer before more medical personnel arrived on the ice. The bruising blue-liner was eventually taken off on a stretcher inside a silent Scotiabank Arena as both teams tapped their sticks.
Korpisalo, who made 28 saves in Sunday’s 2-0 victory in Game 1, stopped 36 shots for No. 9 Columbus.
Game 3 of the tightly-contested showdown goes Thursday night.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 4, 2020
Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press
