Dennis Hildeby's second start was an eventful one.

First Period

The start of this game was pretty much all Columbus, and the Leafs were not strong on the puck.

This goal was coming from a mile away, as James van Riemsdyk did what he does.

The Blue Jackets weren't finished, and some blown coverage led to a 2-0 lead as Justin Danforth scored.

Nick Robertson got a two-on-one chance, but his stick got knocked out of his hand.

Columbus with some more excellent transition and the Domi line (all of them) were too slow to do a single thing to stop Mathieu Olivier from making it 3-0.

Max Pacioretty took a hooking call to give the Blue Jackets some more offensive zone time. Love those chasing the play penalties.

Matt Knies drew a penalty on a shorthanded break made possible by a slick Auston Matthews lob. This was, unfortunately, the play of the period for the Leafs.

No shots on goal on the Toronto power play portion of the next few minutes.

Hildeby made a save by accident to avoid making this up any worse. No Omar tonight, or you'd get to see that.

This is the chart for the first period:

Columbus: 😄 Leafs: 💩

Score is 3-0 Columbus.

Second Period

Leafs got an early flurry, but it eventually ended, as it has to (unless there's a goal) with a counter attack and Hildeby sprawled to barely make a save. He was not seeing the puck at all on these rush chances against.

Columbus got a cycle and Hildeby almost fell into the net as he was trying to hold the puck in his pads somewhere.

And then the horn goes – after the faceoff – and that means the situation room thinks that was a goal. It was a mistake it seems, as that horn cannot go off in that situation as per Mike Johnson on air. And it wasn't a goal either.

This is the salient point in the rule on situation room detecting a goal:

Any potential goal requiring video review must be reviewed prior to and/or during the next stoppage of play. No goal may be awarded (or disallowed) as a result of a Video Review once play has resumed.

Columbus came back in transition and Hildeby gave up a HUGE rebound right to Sean Monahan. I could have scored that.

Nick Robertson took a penalty for pulling down a Columbus guy who folds like the proverbial cheap card table. David Jiricek goes for embellishment in what was a clear oversell.

Columbus had a stick on everything that is a scoring chance. Flurries of chances. as the Leafs played a lot better in the second, got them nothing.

A smash into the glass in the corner took out a camera man, who is fine. The kids in the front row were also okay. Max Pacioretty hits hard, in case that's news.

(Omar!)

Danill Tarasov was quick to steal a goal from Matthews.

Domi with a clear run at the net was poke-checked from behind in a very slick move.

Columbus scored again. Leafs at fault.

Mike Johnson made a cogent comment that it's not part of the team that's horrible, it's everyone.

Matt Knies got one back in the final minute.

This is the chart for this period:

Columbus: 😆 Leafs: 🎱 Hockey Gods: 😂

Score was 5-1 Columbus. Leafs upped their Corsi in the second by 50%. So did the Blue Jackets.

Third Period

Pacioretty did not return for the third.

Columbus took a penalty in the first minute. An offensive zone hook by Kirill Marchenko.

The power play was very slow, but I liked it. In this situation they need to be not in a panic. It resulted in a good Marner shot on this weird wide-spread format that comes out sometimes.

Toronto took a penalty and the delay period was very, very long. The Leafs could get a touch on the puck. Tavares goes for tripping in an offensive zone penalty, and Columbus didn't need a good power play, they just ran down the clock for about three minutes.

Four Leafs fell on the post power play shift, only a few with help.

Max Domi sucker punched Adam Fantilli off a faceoff. He should get a fine for that. Should have got a misconduct.

Columbus scored – great shot. Leafs to blame.

What timing. Nick Robertson got his first of the year. Good for him. He likely needed that a lot.

Jiricek hit Pontus Holmberg and Reaves took exception. Reaves got four minutes and Olivier got two minutes, and Columbus did not need a good power play. Which is good, they didn't have one.

Leafs got a power play in the final minutes.

Final score was 6-2.

Nothing about this game means anything. The final chart is a void of nothingness. Okay, that's not absolutely true. Some of those Blue Jackets have a lot of skill. Marchenko impressed.

See you Thursday as the Leafs host the Blues.

Game Coverage