After playing eight of their first 10 games at home, the Toronto Maple Leafs will look to record their first road victory of the season on Wednesday night when they face the Columbus Blue Jackets.
“It’s good to get on the road again, for sure,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said after the Maple Leafs pulled out a 4-3 victory against the Calgary Flames on Tuesday. “We got to go to Columbus (on Wednesday) and take care of business there, but we get a couple days before the (Philadelphia game on Saturday) where the guys could get together on the road and be around each other.”
While Toronto looks for its first road win, the Blue Jackets aim to improve their standing at Nationwide Arena. They are just 1-3-0 at home this season after posting 26 of their 40 wins there in 2024-25.
Both teams will be traveling for the second game of back-to-back series on Wednesday. Miles Wood scored in overtime to cap a two-goal performance, lifting Columbus to a 4-3 win at Buffalo on Tuesday.
Toronto and Columbus also hope their wins on Tuesday can energize their anemic power-play units. Toronto has the NHL’s sixth-worst power play, having scored just three times in 23 chances. Matthew Knies converted with the man advantage early in the third period against the Flames, however.
The Blue Jackets’ power play hasn’t been much better. The team entered Tuesday having converted three of its 20 opportunities. Defenseman Zach Werenski recorded his second goal of the season on the Blue Jackets’ only chance with the man advantage in Buffalo.
“Our power play was really good last year,” Werenski said on the Blue Jackets postgame show Tuesday. “We really haven’t gotten back to it this year. I just feel like getting some pucks to the net (will help). Keeping it simple, keeping it direct. That was our game plan.”
It was Werenski’s first goal since Oct. 11, when he recorded a three-point game at Minnesota.
Tuesday’s goal also ended a three-game streak without a point for Werenski, who has 15 points (all assists) in 17 career games against Toronto.
Knies and Max Domi both scored twice in the Maple Leafs’ win over the Flames. Domi’s goals were his first since he scored against Detroit on Oct. 11.
“He’s been a different player,” Berube said of Domi. “Just more engaged, and when he’s an engaged player, he’s a good player.”
William Nylander, who was a game-time decision with a lower-body injury, notched an assist on Knies’ first goal of the game late in the second period to give him points in eight of the nine games he’s played this season. Nylander has a club-best 12 assists this season, putting him two behind Montreal Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki for the NHL lead.
Nylander has 10 goals and 10 assists in 22 career games vs. the Blue Jackets.
