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Toronto rolls past Columbus

Nov 4, 2011 - 3:29 AM Columbus, OH (Sports Network) - Clarke MacArthur scored a pair of goals, leading the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 4-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.

John-Michael Liles and Joey Crabb scored the other goals, and Joffrey Lupul added a pair of assists for the Leafs, who have won two straight.

Ben Scrivens made 38 saves for Toronto to earn his first career win.

"I've put in a lot of hard work to get to this point," Scrivens said of getting his first career win. "I probably gave up more rebounds than I wanted to but the guys were there blocking shots and picking up sticks."

Ryan Johansen netted the only goal for the Jackets, losers of three of their last four games.

Steve Mason made seven saves on 11 shots and Allen York stopped all seven shots he faced in relief in a losing effort.

Toronto took an early 1-0 lead at the 6:09 mark of the opening stanza when Jake Gardiner intercepted a breakout pass in the neutral zone and sent Lupul into the offensive zone with speed. Lupul stopped at the left point and found a cutting Crabb in the slot, who roofed it on Mason to give his team the lead

The Maple Leafs made it 2-0 with just 15 seconds left in the first period thanks to a neutral zone turnover by Columbus. MacArthur swooped in to pick up the loose puck, brought it into the offensive zone and fired a low heavy shot that beat Mason to the glove side.

Just 50 seconds into the second period, the Leafs made it 3-0 when Liles kept the puck in the zone at the left point, moved down to the left circle and fired a wrist shot in past Mason.

MacArthur picked up his second goal of the game 5:31 into the second period when the gritty winger picked up the puck in the neutral zone and raced in on a 2-on-1 with Nikolai Kulemin. MacArthur elected to shoot and fired one from the left circle past Mason to the glove side, ending the goalie's night.

"I was able to get a couple shots off and lucky enough they went in," MacArthur said.

The Blue Jackets finally got one back at 11:20 of the second period when Antoine Vermette picked up the puck behind the net, swung around to the right circle and fired a shot on goal that was stopped by Scrivens, but Johansen was parked in front to stuff home the rebound to account for the final score.

"Their goaltender was better than our goaltender, plain and simple," Blue Jackets head coach Scott Arniel said. "Their guy made a lot of big saves, just one end was good and one end wasn't."

Game Notes

Despite being held off the score sheet, Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash is two points shy of becoming the first Blue Jacket to record 500 points...Toronto leads the all-time series between the teams, 6-3-1...Columbus went 0-for-4 with the power play, while Toronto was 0-for-2 with the man advantage...The Maple Leafs will head home to face Boston on Saturday, while the Blue Jackets will travel to Philadelphia to battle the Flyers, also on Saturday.