Easton Cowan and Jack Roslovic each had a goal and two assists, and Auston Matthews and William Nylander each had a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs (5-4-2), who have won two straight following a three-game skid. Morgan Rielly had three assists, and Anthony Stolarz made 35 saves.

Toronto was coming off a 3-1 win against the San Jose Sharks on Monday.

“On a back to back, you want to try to play simple, especially on the road,” Rielly said. “I thought everyone did a good job, outstanding. I thought the goalie was outstanding.”

Jake Christiansen scored for the Blue Jackets (3-5-0), who have lost four of five (1-4-0). Jet Greaves allowed five goals on 19 shots in 32:03 before being replaced by Cam Talbot, who stopped two of three shots in relief.

“I didn’t see that coming,” Columbus coach Rick Bowness said. “Had good meetings today and thought we were ready to go. We made it a little too easy on their top-down guys. They made us pay the price.”

Knies had three shots on goal and two hits against his former team.

“It was weird, to be honest,” Knies said. “But I guess the only way I can look back at this is just frustrated that we didn’t win and didn’t put together a good effort.”

“There’s just a lot more in this group, a lot more, a lot more to give. So, that’s the thing that’s going to bite us right now is that we know that there’s more.”

Christiansen gave Columbus a 1-0 lead at 2:38 of the first period with his first goal since Dec. 21, 2024.

Marchenko’s power-play goal tied it 1-1 at 8:16. He was at the right post when a shot from Matthews deflected in off his skate, bringing a chorus of boos directed toward him.

“It’s fine, I’ve been ready for that,” Marchenko said. “But again, I can’t control that. I appreciate all fans who’s been here when I played. It doesn’t matter for me, actually. I just do my work and I try to be better.”

The Maple Leafs then scored four goals in a 9:37 span of the second period to pull away for a 5-1 lead.

Nylander put Toronto ahead 2-1 at 2:26 with a wrist shot from the right circle. Matthews, playing in his 700th NHL game, extended it to 3-1 just 46 seconds later with a shot from the left wing after a cross-ice pass by Roslovic.