The Columbus Blue Jackets came out of the gates swinging on Wednesday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs with a heavy and hostile attack to open the game. The Blue Jackets jumped out to a lead early in the first period and never looked back in the dominating fashion of a 6-3 win at Nationwide Arena.
The Blue Jackets’ scoring was kicked off by Cole Sillinger in the first period with his first goal of the season, and was quickly followed up by Zach Werenski‘s third goal of the season to make it a quick 2-0 lead at the end of the first period.
The Maple Leafs came out of the first intermission buzzing around with an early goal from Sammy Blais, as he netted his first goal as a Maple Leaf just over two minutes into the second period. The Blue Jackets stopped the bleeding and answered the bell with three unanswered goals to end the second period off the sticks of Ivan Provorov, Cole Sillinger, and Dante Fabbro, respectively.
Mathieu Olivier opened the third period scoring for the Blue Jackets to make it a 6-1 score. Later, towards the end of the third period, the Maple Leafs returned to the scoresheet with two late goals by John Tavares and Nicholas Robertson, respectively, to finish the game 6-3 in favor of the Blue Jackets.
Columbus Blue Jackets center Mathieu Olivier celebrates his goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs (Russell LaBounty-Imagn Images)
The goal by Tavares was the 500th of his career, making him only the 49th player in NHL history to record that feat, and the fifth active player to do it, joining Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Steven Stamkos, and Evgeni Malkin.
John Tavares records his 500th career goal! 👏 pic.twitter.com/oTeTMwT20d
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 30, 2025
The Blue Jackets were outshot by a wide margin in this game, but Elvis Merzlikins stepped up big time to limit the Maple Leafs to only three goals. Merzlikins stopped 34 of 37 shots and shut down both of the Maple Leafs’ power-play opportunities.
Cayden Primeau struggled for the Maple Leafs in the crease, stopping 18 of 24 shots and taking the loss for the first time this season in net.
Blue Jackets’ Third Line Was Terrific
The Blue Jackets’ third line, consisting of Mathieu Olivier, Cole Sillinger, and Charlie Coyle, was terrific throughout the game on Wednesday night.
Olivier and Coyle both led the way with four-point nights, and Sillinger was not far behind with a three-point night of his own. That line came alive for the first time this season, and allowed for the Blue Jackets’ top forward lines to get away with having one of their less productive nights on the ice.
When asked how depth scoring adds reassurance even when the top guys aren’t putting the puck in the net, Blue Jackets head coach Dean Evason talked about how it lands on the team’s leadership group to facilitate that trust.
“I think the leadership group facilitates that and allows everybody to feel part of it,” said Evason. “It’s easy to disperse the minutes between the team, and there should be that confidence up and down the lineup.”
NHL GameScore Impact Card for Columbus Blue Jackets on 2025-10-29: pic.twitter.com/WiUntgPc9l
— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) October 30, 2025
The way that defensemen were able to stay up in plays all night allowed for the Blue Jackets to pin the Maple Leafs deep in their own defensive zone, and play with speed and physicality with exhausted Maple Leafs stuck on the ice.
Load Management With a Lead
Wednesday night, the only two teams in the league with a game were the Blue Jackets and Maple Leafs, so the ability for them to keep guys rested coming off of a back-to-back was going to be a crucial factor in this game.
Evason talked about the ability he had later in the game to give his star defenseman, Zach Werenski, a couple of shifts off to keep him fresh for the rest of the week.
“(Werenski) didn’t play as much as he would normally play if it were an even game, but everyone still played,” said Evason. “It is nice to get the defense involved in the offensive structure, and not just the forwards, the league is too good not to get those guys involved in the play.”
Werenski logged just under 22 minutes of ice time Wednesday night, which is almost four minutes under his season average of 26 minutes per game. A chance to catch a breather before a couple days off, and a matchup with the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.
The Importance of Winning Early Games
The Blue Jackets narrowly missed the playoffs last season, falling just short of the Montreal Canadiens by two points. Evason understands the importance of winning these games early on and how much these points now can matter down the stretch.
“We made a point to correct some things that we thought we needed to correct, after not making the playoffs (last season) by two points,” said Evason. “So, yeah, it is important that there might be a game, like one of these games maybe gets us in, or maybe doesn’t get us in, if we are on the right side or the wrong side.”
Against an Eastern Conference opponent such as the Maple Leafs, this game could pay massive dividends for the Blue Jackets in what could be a tight playoff race at the end of the season. This game was the last before two days off, and an upcoming test against a struggling Blues squad, which has dropped four straight games.
