Tonight at 7 p.m. ET, the Toronto Maple Leafs (4-4-1, nine points) and Columbus Blue Jackets (4-5-0, eight points) face-off for the first of three meetings this season live from the Nationwide Arena in Columbus in Halloween night action. The game can be live streamed here. Toronto fans can hear all of the action on TSN 1050 while Columbus fans can do the same on 97.1 The Fan.
Toronto is looking to win two straight games for the first time this season while injury-riddled Columbus is hoping to halt a three-game skid.
The Maple Leafs are coming off of a 4-0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres that saw the team receive goals from four different players, including Phil Kessel, who notched his team-best fifth of the year.
Kessel also has five assists to rank tied with Tyler Bozak (four tallies, six helpers) for a team-best 10 points. James van Riemsdyk has been a major contributor, finding the back of the net four times this season while adding two assists for six points.
Toronto switched up its lines heading into the Buffalo game it paid dividends.
"I felt it was stagnant and we weren't creating enough chances," Toronto coach Randy Carlyle said per NHL.com. "If you do an evaluation and they get chances eventually those types of players will find ways to score goals."
The Blue Jackets are missing several of their top players to injury and are coming off of a 5-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators Tuesday that handed the team a third straight loss. Cam Atkinson (4) and David Savard (2) each scored in the loss.
Columbus will get one player back tonight though as Nick Foligno (neck) believes he's fit to return.
"There's soreness in my neck," he said. "I don't have all movement and functionality yet. When I'm out there I don't feel like it's hurting my game; just deal with the pain and get ready."
Foligno is third on Columbus with nine points off of three goals and six assists. Ryan Johansen, who held out during training camp for a contract, leads the team with 12 points off of five tallies and seven helpers while Scott Hartnell has lit the lamp just once but added eight assists to rank third on his new team with nine points.
In net, Curtis McElhinney will suit up for Columbus with Sergei Bobrovsky (fractured finger) sidelined while Toronto is likely to counter with Jonathan Bernier.
McElhinney has one loss in two appearances and has yielded seven goals on 51 shots while Bernier is 2-3-1 with a 2.83 goals-against average and .910 save percentage this season.
The Maple Leafs look for their second win while the Blue Jackets hope to avoid a four-game skid when the puck drops on these teams at the Nationwide Arena tonight in Columbus.
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