The Columbus Blue Jackets were in town tonight to play the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Center. Two strong Eastern teams who both look poised to make playoff appearances (although almost certainly not against each other) were slated against each other in what started slow, but turned into an exciting game.

For the lines, check out today’s Leafs Game Day post.

The first period was largely uneventful. We saw a few things that were worth noting, though.

Firstly, that Roman Polak took yet another minor penalty. It’s insane how often he finds himself breaking the rules.

Secondly, Travis Dermott looked very good overall. It looked like he and Gardiner were having trouble sorting out the zone exits having the same handedness, but this may be something that comes with time.

That’s really all. The period ended 0-0.

Midway through the second, the Leafs were finally on the board on this great tip in front by JVR:

This led to an incredible push by Columbus, but Frederik Andersen stood tall and denied every opportunity against.

And then, shortly after, William Nylander shot the most incredible puck into a tiny hole in the top right corner to put the Leafs up 2-0:

That was it for the 2nd period.

It should be noted at this point that the lack of goal scoring from Columbus was not for a lack of trying. Frederik Andersen had been on fire to this point, and continued to be so throughout the 3rd.

Unfortunately, with only a handful of minutes left in the game, the shutout would end for Freddy on a weird bounce in front of him that soars over his head:

And the Jackets were not done there, as a Rielly turnover is jumped on by Jones, who catches the Leafs on a change and finds Dubois in front:

Unfortunately this would end the period, and the game headed off to OT tied 2-2.

The best chance for the Leafs came on a great flip pass to Bozak, but an incredible stop by Bobrovsky kept it out.

Immediately after, Panarin kicks the puck into the net, but it hits the stick on the way in so it counts. I’m not sure why, because if kicking at the puck is dangerous, it shouldn’t count no matter what it hits on the way in. Or if it’s not dangerous, which this play wasn’t, we should stop wasting our time reviewing it and just say it’s a goal. But, I don’t get to make those calls. Here was the play:

This one has to sting for the Leafs, coming ahead for the first 55 minutes of the game, but allowing 2 in the last 5 and then getting beat in OT.

The Leafs were good tonight. I thought Marner, Nylander, Andersen and Dermott were all great. Gardiner and Bozak were good as well.

The Marleau Kadri Komarov line looked a bit dangerous late, but had overall a pretty poor game.

The 4th line was okay, Gauthier had 3 or 4 really good chances to score but missed the net each time, unfortunately.

All in all, this was a very good effort that fell apart at the end. You can blame it on mental lapses, overuse of grinders, Nylander missing his check in OT, or just plain bad luck. Or maybe a combination of all of it.

The Leafs play next against the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday at 7:30 pm ET.