Robertson, Nylander each scores twice, Maple Leafs ease past Blue Jackets

TORONTO -- Nicholas Robertson and William Nylander each scored twice for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 5-0 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.

“Our third period, I thought we were extremely disciplined, didn’t sit back,” Maple Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz said. “We continued to forecheck them, press their defense and force them to turn pucks over and that allowed us to get open ice and score some goals and defensively I thought we were fantastic. We didn’t really give up any chances.”

Stolarz made 27 saves for his second shutout of the season and 10th in the NHL, Auston Matthews had a goal and an assist and Morgan Rielly had two assists for the Maple Leafs (47-25-4), who won their fourth in a row and are 5-0-1 in their past six.

“Staying in games, tight games where it’s tight checking,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “Not opening it up, not forcing things and getting frustrated and then taking it over in the third period. That’s the biggest thing I can tell you about what I like right now.”

Toronto increased its lead for first place in the Atlantic Division to four points over the Tampa Bay Lightning, who lost 3-2 in a shootout against the Buffalo Sabres.

Elvis Merzlikins made 22 saves for the Blue Jackets (34-32-9), who have lost two in a row and are 3-3-0 in their past six.

Columbus fell to six points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference after Montreal defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2.

“It’s reality, it’s difficult because we can’t think we played a real strong first period,” Columbus coach Dean Evason said. “Started right, started with the right mindset, energy level was great but for whatever reason you lack some confidence and something bad happens like a goal and all of a sudden we are reeling a bit. It’s uncharacteristic for this team, for us to do that. So we’ve got to find a way as coaches and players to if something does happen like that and we are outplaying a team or playing really well, we just have to stay with it.”

The Maple Leafs went up 1-0 at 10:03 of the first period when Robertson, who had been a healthy scratch the past three games, took a pass from Pontus Holmberg and shot past Merzlikins’ glove from the slot.

“It feels great,” Robertson said. “You want to make an impact on the game and scoring a couple does that. You just try to feed off that and continue that confidence. (The scratches) gave me a reset, gives me even more of that hunger to get back in there and be effective and try and make the most of any opportunity I’m given.”

Robertson pushed it to 2-0 at 12:28 of the second period. Max Domi swatted the puck away from Zach Werenski at the blue line, allowing Robertson to skate on to the loose puck and shoot between Merzlikins’ pads just to the right of the right hashmarks.

“It’s huge,” Stolarz said of Robertson. “He’s a very skilled player and works extremely hard so for him to seamlessly step back into the lineup and score two important goals for us to get us going, that’s huge for us and huge for his confidence I’m sure.”

Nylander made it 3-0 at 1:11 of the third period when he got to a rebound from Rielly’s point shot and shot between Merzlikins’ pads.

He scored again at 4:21 to make it 4-0 when he took a pass from Rielly in the neutral zone, cut into the slot and shot to the blocker side for his 44th goal of the season.

“I don’t think we were desperate enough in the third period,” Columbus captain Boone Jenner said. “Coming out they score pretty much right away. That’s on us, tighten up, whatever it is, you’ve got to go out and play hard and give yourself the best chance to win. The first period, second period we had some good minutes but the third just wasn’t good enough.”

Matthews put the Maple Leafs up 5-0 at 16:27 with his 30th goal of the season when he took a pass from Mitch Marner, who was behind the net, and shot from just below the left hashmarks. Matthews has scored at least 30 goals in each of his nine NHL seasons, the seventh player in NHL history to do so (Alex Ovechkin, Mike Gartner, Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Mike Bossy, Bryan Trottier).

Toronto had lost its prior two games against Columbus this season, 6-2 on Oct. 22 and 5-1 on Jan. 22.

“We talked about that before the game being due," Rielly said. "I thought the other guys played well, we got a couple in the third and the score looks different but it was a close game.”

“We understand the importance of these games at this time of year so being up two is a good spot and a good opportunity for our guys to work at closing games out. So we’re happy with the result and the third period plays a big part in that.”

NOTES: Nylander’s second goal was his 261st, moving him past Wendel Clark for ninth place on the Maple Leafs all-time goals list… Marner’s assist extended his point streak to seven games (three goals, eight assists). It was his 70th of the season, making him the third player in Maple Leafs history with a 70-assist season, joining Doug Gilmour (95 in 1992-93 and 84 in 1993-94) and Darryl Sittler (72 in 1977-78).