It would have been unthinkable not too long ago, but the Toronto Maple Leafs (15-6) and Columbus Blue Jackets (12-7-2) are both on top of their respective divisions heading into the American Thanksgiving break. They’ll meet this Friday in what should be an entertaining game at Nationwide Arena; TSN4 has the opening face-off at 7 PM ET.
This will be a rematch of Monday’s game in Toronto, which the Leafs won 4-2 as –145 favourites on a pair of late third-period goals by Zach Hyman. That’s four wins in a row for Toronto, who find themselves alone atop the Stanley Cup futures market at +400, well ahead of the Blue Jackets at +1600. And they’ve done it despite Auston Matthews missing 10 games thus far with an injured left shoulder. He isn’t due back until December.
Monday’s loss snapped Columbus’ win streak at three games, but they’re still the top team in the Metropolitan Division, with superior puck possession stats to Toronto’s. The Blue Jackets are completely healthy, and they’re getting solid goaltending from Sergei Bobrovsky (.915 save percentage), but No. 2 netminder Joonas Korpisalo (.885 SV%) has been a disappointment in his fourth year as their back-up plan.
