Blue Jackets down Maple Leafs to win fifth of six

COLUMBUS -- Despite the 500th career NHL goal by John Tavares, the Toronto Maple Leafs lost 6-3 to the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Wednesday.

He scored at 15:45 of the third period to make it 6-2.

“You play this game to win as a team, and it's all about the team,” Tavares said. “And you know, you'd like to have had it make more of an impact in the game. But for sure, in the days ahead and moments ahead, I'll appreciate it more.”

Toronto captain Auston Matthews appreciates the chance to play with Tavares.

“It's amazing,” he said. “I can't say enough great things about Johnny, the person that he is, the teammate, the professional, the guy that shows up to the rink every day and is one of the hardest workers, takes care of himself in all different ways.”

Cole Sillinger scored his first two goals of the season and had an assist, Mathieu Olivier set a career-high with four points (one goal, three assists) for the Blue Jackets (6-4-0), who have won three straight and five of six.

“We roll four lines pretty heavily, and that that makes for a really good recipe,” Olivier said.

Charlie Coyle had a career-best four assists, Zach Werenski had a goal and an assist and Elvis Merzlikins made 33 saves for Columbus.

The line of Coyle, Olivier and Sillinger combined for 11 points.

“When we get the cycle going, we're tough to knock off the puck,” Sillinger said. “If teams give us time and space, we can capitalize. Throughout this 10-game stretch here, we felt like we've done that. It's just a matter of executing.”

Sammy Blais and Nicholas Robertson each had a goal and an assist, and Cayden Primeau made 18 saves for the Maple Leafs (5-5-1), who had won two straight.

“If you don't take care of the puck and you don't take care of certain team’s tendencies, you can get burnt by it and that's what happened tonight,” Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube said.

Each team was coming off 4-3 wins on Tuesday: The Blue Jackets in overtime against the Buffalo Sabres while Toronto defeated the Calgary Flames.

Sillinger put the Blue Jackets on the board first to make it 1-0 at 6:56 in the first period. Sillinger got the wrist shot off thanks to a pass from Coyle, which marked his 300th career assist.

Werenski made it 2-0 at 11:16 with a wrist shot from the right circle. He has a goal in two straight games.

Blais batted a shot from Jake McCabe into the net with the shaft of his stick at 2:43 of the second period to make it 2-1 in his debut for the Leafs. Blais was claimed off waivers from the Montreal Canadiens on Oct. 6 and had been a scratch until tonight, as Toronto's leading scorer William Nylander did not dress due to a lower-body injury.

Ivan Provorov regained a two-goal lead making it 3-1 at 8:33. He went to the backhand in the slot to put in the rebound of a Dmitri Voronkov shot.

Sillinger increased the Blue Jackets' lead to 4-1 at 13:24, completing a 2-on-1 with Coyle on a shot from the left circle before Dante Fabbro made it 5-1 at 16:58.

“Some nights it's going to be one line, sometimes going to be two of the lines and some nights, it's all lines. It's the NHL,” Coyle said. “Everyone's pretty good, but it's about winning your matchups and just trust in what we do as a line, but as a team too.”

Olivier upped it to 6-1 at 7:50 of the third period for his first of the season from a Coyle drop pass.

After the Tavares goal, Robertson scored off a wrist shot at 18:10 for the 6-3 final.

NOTES: Tavares became the second player to reach 500 goals while playing for the Maple Leafs (Mats Sundin on Oct. 14, 2006). … Tavares has nine points (five goals, four assists) in a six-game point streak. … Coyle became the third player in franchise history with four primary assists in a game, joining Artemi Panarin (five on Dec. 8, 2017) and Scott Hartnell (four on Oct. 23, 2014). … Blue Jackets defenseman Erik Gudbranson (hip) missed his second straight game. … Blais scored his first NHL goal since Oct. 19, 2023. … Toronto forward Steven Lorentz left at 16:58 of the second period after going into the boards following a hit by Jake Christiansen. There was no postgame update.