TORONTO — The Blue Jackets keep watching the same sad movie on repeat, and it has just about crushed their once promising playoff aspirations.
Once again, they came out strong and dominated from the opening draw without scoring a goal. Once again, a fluke bounce created a turnover that led to the opposing team taking a 1-0 lead that became 2-0 a second turnover in the second period Saturday night at Scotiabank Arena. After that, as has also been the case in recent weeks, things got out of hand in the third period of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 5-0 victory.
William Nylander and Nicholas Robertson each scored two goals, Auston Matthews added his 30th goal of the season and the Maple Leafs (47-25-4) got an impressive 27-save shutout from backup goalie Anthony Stolarz. Elvis Merzlikins started for the Blue Jackets (34-32-9), who’ve stumbled to a 4-10-1 record in 15 games since leaving the ice March 1 at Ohio Stadium after a thrilling 5-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings.
That win gave the Blue Jackets control of the first wild card in the Eastern Conference.
