NHL Latest: Columbus Blue Jackets beat Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2
The first game of Thursday was hosted by the Toronto Maple Leafs as they were up against the Columbus Blue Jackets at the Air Canada Centre.
The match was played in front of a 19,000-strong crowd as the Columbus Blue Jackets won a hard fought contest 3-2.
Kristian Huselius scored two goals and was named the star selection of the match.
This was expected to be one of the tough encounters in the NHL and it certainly proved to be one. The match started off slowly for both teams. Though there were some early shots on goal but none of them found the back of the net.
Both teams continued to work hard to score. It was the Toronto Maple Leafs who struck first blood with a goal in the 16th minute through Nikolai Kulemin from a decent strike.
Constantly attacking after the first goal, the Blue Jackets managed to level the scores with a goal from Kristian Huselius from a flick shot in the 17th minute. With the scores level, both teams pressed on for a lead.
It looked as if the period would end with the scores level but the Toronto Maple Leafs scored with 18 seconds remaining to take the lead through Tyler Bozak’s flick shot.
The period ended with Toronto Maple Leafs leading 2-1. During the course of the period, Toronto made 12 goal attempts while the Columbus Blue Jackets made 10 goal attempts.
Columbus Blue Jackets changed their strategy in the second period and closed in on the opposing players. They constantly looked to score with the numerous chances they got.
Blue Jackets’ defended strongly and restricted the home team to just 3 goal attempts in the period while they themselves made 11 goal attempts. During the period, Columbus Blue Jackets scored through Kristian Huselius again to level the scores in the second
minute.
With the scores level, the final period began with both teams pressing hard for victory. It was Columbus Jackets who scored through RJ Umberger to take the lead in the fourth minute.
Though both teams had their chances of scoring but no further goals were scored as the period and the match ended with the Columbus Blue Jackets winning 3-2.
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