Mike Babcock deflected attention from himself after his first victory as the Toronto Maple Leafs coach, preferring to focus on how his players are improving.
Leo Komarov scored two late goals and the Maple Leafs beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-3 on Friday night to improve to 1-2-1 under Babcock.
“All in all, we had a good night,” Babcock said. “I thought we scored some good goals. Full marks to the guys for the win. I think it’s a positive for them and they got points two nights in a row, which is a long way from where we started. We just need to keep getting better.”
Joffrey Lupul had a goal and an assist, and Jake Gardiner, James van Riemsdyk, and Nazem Kadri also scored. Daniel Winnik added three assists, Morgan Rielly had two, and James Reimer finished with 24 saves for the Maple Leafs, who played for the first time six days.
“It’s important for the guys to understand they’re working harder,” Babcock said. “They are playing with better structure and they are competing harder. If you keep doing those things you will be rewarded over time.”
Scott Hartnell had a goal and an assist to reach 600 career points, and Boone Jenner and Nick Foligno also scored for Columbus. The Blue Jackets are 0-5-0, extending the worst start in franchise history.
They can’t rid themselves of the turnover bug and Sergei Bobrovsky continues to struggle. He made 28 saves on 33 shots, but allowed two tough ones in the third period with the game in the balance. The Blue Jackets have allowed a league-worst 26 goals.
“We’re not doing things consistent enough,” Columbus captain Foligno said. “Usually you make your own luck by doing it right all the time and right now we’re doing things to shoot ourselves in the foot.”
After Columbus rallied from two down to tie it at 3-3 early in the third period, Lupul scored with a shot from the slot at the 4-minute mark to put Toronto ahead.
“I had good position on whoever the player was that was on me,” Lupul said. “I really didn’t have anything to shoot at and I waited. Bobrovsky kind of started to get up and I was able to shoot five-hole. Probably a play that he’d like to have back.”
Komarov beat Bobrovsky between his legs with 4:45 left with the Blue Jackets in the middle of an ill-timed line change, and added an empty-netter.
“We stuck with it,” Lupul said. “We thought we were the better team throughout the majority of the game so we were confident and stuck with it.”
Mostly out of sync the first two periods, a little luck helped revive Columbus.
Late in the second, the puck hit Hartnell up high near the goal and caromed off the end boards to Foligno at the post for a jam shot with 1:58 left. Then, 59 seconds into the third, Hartnell scored on the power play.
Jenner started the scoring at 3:47 of the first period, redirecting the puck between Reimer’s pads.
Gardiner tied it 29 seconds into the second period with a point shot. Winnik fed him from down low after a strong puck-battle win in a scrum.
“It was a heck of a shot by Jake,” Winnik said.
Van Riemsdyk and Kadri scored 1:18 apart later in the second to make it 3-1.
“We are a group that can score by committee,” Winnik said. “I think the way Mike’s system is, that if you keep doing the right things, if we go to the net a lot, that’s where goals are in this league. You see a lot of our goals came from that.”
Van Riemsdyk scored at 7:34 on what appeared to by an innocent play moving into the Blue Jackets’ zone. But he used the traffic around him as a screen to get the puck past a surprised Bobrovsky. A costly blunder by defenceman Jack Johnson sending the puck toward his own net, handed Kadri an easy score at 8:52.
In the end, it was a special victory enjoyed by Babcock.
“I like winning as much as the next guy,” he said. “Maybe more than the next guy actually. You kind of get used to it. There have been lots of positive things that have happened since I have arrived here.”
Elsewhere in the NHL
San Jose Sharks 2, New Jersey Devils 1 (penalties)
Martin Jones fell just short of a third consecutive shutout, and then Joe Pavelski and Brent Burns scored in a shootout to lift the San Jose Sharks to a 2-1 victory over the winless New Jersey Devils on Friday night.
Jones stopped 31 shots and came within 3:38 of his third shutout in four games as the Sharks improved to 4-0 under former New Jersey coach Pete DeBoer. New Jersey are 0-3-1 under new coach John Hynes.
Patrick Marleau scored for the Sharks in the opening minute and the goal stood until Adam Henrique ended Jones’s shutout bid with a tying power-play goal.
Henrique scored for New Jersey on their first shootout attempt, but Jacob Josefson was stopped on the second and Mike Cammalleri missed the net on the third.
On his goal, Henrique tipped a shot from the point by Damon Severson past Jones. It was the first goal Jones had allowed in a franchise-record 234 minutes, 33 seconds. The only score he had given up this season came on the first shot he faced in the season opener against Los Angeles.
Colorado Avalanche 3, Anaheim Ducks 0
Reto Berra made 35 saves for his second career shutout and Nathan MacKinnon scored in the opening minute of Colorado’s victory over winless Anaheim.
Jack Skille also scored for the Avalanche, who dominated their road opener against the three-time defending Pacific Division champions. The Ducks fell to 0-3-1 with just one goal all season.
Berra became the third goalie to shut out the Ducks this season, making several big saves. It was the Swiss netminder’s 52nd NHL game.
Frederik Andersen stopped 22 shots for the Ducks, who haven’t scored in more than 163 minutes since Sami Vatanen got their only goal against Vancouver on Monday.
Los Angeles Kings 2, Minnesota Wild 1 (overtime)
Anze Kopitar scored at 2:19 of overtime, Tyler Toffoli connected on a power play in the second period and Los Angeles got their first victory of the season.
The Kings, who last season became the eighth team in NHL history to miss the play-offs a year after winning the Stanley Cup, were in danger of starting a season 0-4 for the first time. Their longest winless streak from the start of a season was nine games in 1984/85 (0-6 with three ties).
Kopitar scored on a 25-foot wrist shot in the first overtime game for either team in the new 3-on-3 format.
Minnesota coach Mike Yeo challenged that LA were offside on Kopitar’s goal, but the goal was upheld.
For Minnesota, Darcy Kuemper stopped 35 shots in his season debut. Kings goalie Jonathan Quick stopped 25 shots.
Carolina Hurricanes 5, Detroit Red Wings 3
Eric Staal and Kris Versteeg each had a goal and two assists and Carolina handed Detroit their first loss of the season.
Brock McGinn, playing on the line with Staal and Versteeg, added a goal and an assist in his NHL debut. Cam Ward only needed to make 17 saves to help Carolina to their first victory.
Justin Faulk and Chris Terry also scored for Carolina.
Gustav Nyquist, Riley Sheahan and Teemu Pulkkinen scored for Detroit.
Winnipeg Jets 3, Calgary Flames 1
Dustin Byfuglien broke a tie with 1:28 left, and Ondrej Pavelec made 19 saves in Winnipeg’s victory over Calgary.
Byfuglien forced a turnover, took a pass and went around defenceman Dennis Wideman and beat Karri Ramo with a sharp-angle, low shot. Calgary coach Bob Hartley challenged the goal to see if Byfuglien was offside, but the goal stood.
Blake Wheeler added an empty-net goal with 53 seconds left, the 150th of his career, and leads the Jets with seven points. Bryan Little also had a goal and assist for Winnipeg, The Jets are 4-1-0.
Mikael Backlund scored for Calgary.
St Louis Blues 4, Vancouver Canucks 3
Alexander Steen had a goal and an assist for St Louis.
Jori Lehtera, Robert Bortuzzo and Kyle Brodziak also scored, and Jake Allen stopped 31 shots. The Blues have won three straight to improve to 4-1-0.
Brandon Sutter had a goal and two assists, and Jared McCann and Daniel Sedin also scored for Vancouver. Ryan Miller made 28 saves.
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