Maple Leafs shut out Blue Jackets in Game 2, even series

Frederik Andersen made 20 saves for his third NHL postseason shutout, and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-0 in Game 2 to even the Stanley Cup Qualifiers series at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Tuesday.

Auston Matthews scored at 16:00 of the second period for Toronto's first goal of the series, ending Joonas Korpisalo's shutout streak at 96:00.

"It's the postseason, so everything is tight out there and obviously goals are hard to come by," Matthews said. "It was nice to get that one and kind of jump-start a nice push."

WATCH: [All Blue Jackets vs. Maple Leafs highlights]

John Tavares scored on a breakaway to make it 2-0 at 4:56 of the third period. Morgan Reilly made it 3-0 when he scored into an empty net with 47 seconds remaining, after the game was delayed 14 minutes following an injury to Maple Leafs defenseman Jake Muzzin.

"I think we were just quicker tonight, and that's not just necessarily the way we're moving our feet, but I think just our execution and the way we moved the puck," Tavares said.

Korpisalo made 35 saves, including the first 27 shots he faced. He won Game 1, 2-0, on Sunday.

"You know what guys, I'm not going to break the game down at all," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. "Toronto played a really good game, we [stunk]. But I'm not interested ... it doesn't help our club right now to break it down with you guys, so I hope you can understand that."

Game 3 is in Toronto, the Eastern Conference hub city, on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, TVAS, FS-O). The Maple Leafs are the No. 8 seed in the East, the Blue Jackets are the No. 9 seed; the series winner advances to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Muzzin was injured with 1:52 remaining in the third period. He was on his back on the ice after he fell and his head struck the legs of Blue Jackets forward Oliver Bjorkstrand. Muzzin's neck was immobilized before he was taken off on a stretcher. The Maple Leafs said he was alert at the hospital with movement in all his limbs.

"I'm told he's responsive and all of that, and just awaiting his assessment," Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said.

As part of the NHL Return to Play Plan, a team is not permitted to disclose player injury or illness information.

After the Maple Leafs failed to score through the first four periods of the series, Matthews broke through when he carried the puck up the ice and then deflected Zach Hyman's return pass from the right side over Korpisalo's right shoulder to make it 1-0. It was Matthews' 11th goal in 22 NHL postseason games.

"I thought we played pretty well in the first period, and the second period I think we just tried to stick with it," Matthews said. "And [Hyman] made a great play, and I just tried to deflect it toward the net and it just happened to go in."

Tavares shot between Korpisalo's right arm and pad to make it 2-0.

"I was able to get a good bead on it and lucky enough to get that opportunity; nice to finish it off, especially some of the chances I had," said Tavares, who had eight of Toronto's 39 shots on goal.

Nine penalties were called, five against Columbus, which had one in Game 1.

"I just don't think we were sharp tonight as we have been," Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno said. "I think that was the biggest difference. I mean, you can dissect it any way you want, but it ultimately just came down to we didn't play a very good game. And it's unacceptable. I'm not making excuses for it, but we have a great opportunity to come back and play the right way and try to get the lead in the series again."

Teams that took a 2-0 lead were 55-1 (98.2 percent) winning a best-of-5 NHL series (39-1 when last used from 1980-86; the New York Islanders defeated the Washington Capitals in 1985). Teams that win Game 3 after a series is tied 1-1 are 21-7 (75 percent; 14-2 when last used from 1980-86).

Korpisalo made 55 saves without a goal to begin his NHL postseason career, including 28 for the first shutout in Blue Jackets postseason history.

His shutout streak was the fourth longest in NHL history from the start of a postseason career, 10 seconds longer than Boston Bruins goalie Andrew Raycroft (95:50) in the 2004 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Normie Smith of the Detroit Red Wings had a 248:32 shutout streak to begin his playoff career in 1936; Tiny Thompson of the Boston Bruins had a 129:27 streak in 1929; and Chris Osgood of the Detroit Red Wings had a 97:14 streak in 1994.

Andersen had two postseason shutouts for the Anaheim Ducks (2015, 2016).