from Luke Fox of Sportsnet,

“A lot better than our past two outings,” Auston Matthews said, following the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 4-3 overtime loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. “We can be more proud of the effort tonight.”

Which isn’t saying much, considering how low the bar had slunk against the St. Louis Blues and Montreal Canadiens over Family Day weekend.

But Matthews and the Leafs indeed responded with a much more respectable defensive effort at Nationwide Arena Tuesday.

It was a good-news-bad-news night that resulted in Toronto’s first three-game losing skid since October but also some positive signs that the slump should be short-lived.

“Our guys competed hard today. The play was structured, and I thought we easily could have had two points here,” coach Sheldon Keefe said....

The question must be asked: Is Toronto simply regressing to the mean? Or is goaltending going to be an issue here?

Once Petr Mrazek got healthy, we were expecting he and Jack Campbell to battle it out for the crease. But, lately, it seems neither wants to snatch it outright.

Since Dec. 1, the Maple Leafs rate 31st in 5-on-5 save percentage. The club’s overall save percentage spiked early but has tumbled to the middle ground of 11th overall (.909). Just OK.

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Game highlights are below.