Sheldon Keefe believes his club got what was coming to it Thursday night.

The Toronto Maple Leafs head coach wasn't happy with the team's play in a stunning Game 3 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Keefe was disappointed with what he saw, even when the Leafs led the contest before blowing a three-goal lead and losing 4-3 in overtime, falling behind 2-1 in the best-of-five series.

“I didn’t like our game at 1-0, 2-0, 3-0," the bench boss told reporters postgame, according to TSN's Kristen Shilton. "We got what we deserved. We didn’t have any purpose or plan to our game.”

The Maple Leafs went up by three midway through the second period on rookie Nick Robertson's first NHL goal, following tallies from Cody Ceci and William Nylander. However, the Blue Jackets responded with Pierre-Luc Dubois' pair of goals and one from Seth Jones. Dubois later capped off a hat trick with the winner in overtime.

Toronto dominated possession in the opening period. But Columbus improved in the second stanza and controlled play in the third, before the Maple Leafs earned a bigger share in the extra frame.

Neither club will be able to rest much after the extended contest Thursday night. The Maple Leafs will try to stave off elimination in Game 4 on Friday, with puck drop scheduled for 8 p.m. ET.

(Analytics source: Natural Stat Trick)

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Jacob Larsson will continue to suit up for the Anaheim Ducks after inking a two-year contract extension with the club Thursday.

The defenseman's new pact carries an average annual value of $1.2 million, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

Larsson was a pending restricted free agent. The 23-year-old collected 11 points in 60 NHL games during the regular season, logging 16:09 of average ice time. He added a goal and an assist in five contests with the AHL's San Diego Gulls in 2019-20.

The Swedish blue-liner spent the majority of the last two campaigns with Anaheim. He came to North America to play in the Ducks organization in 2016-17 after the team drafted him 27th overall in 2015.

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The NHL's best regular-season club will not be one of the Eastern Conference's top two seeds in the round of 16.

The Boston Bruins are unable to finish higher than No. 3 in the East following their 3-2 round-robin loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday.

"Well that part sucks, I'm not going to lie to you," Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy told reporters, including The Athletic's Scott Wheeler, postgame. "We knew the rules going into it, that we would lose a bit of the advantage we'd gained. Would I have rather been the No. 1 seed? Absolutely."

Boston is now 0-2-0 in the round-robin stage after losing its opener to the Philadelphia Flyers by a 4-1 margin on Sunday.

The Lightning are 2-0-0 in round-robin play after defeating the Washington Capitals in a shootout Monday, while the Capitals are 0-0-1 and the Flyers are 1-0-0.

Philadelphia will hold the tiebreaker over Boston if both teams finish 1-2-0 by virtue of its win over the Bruins.

Boston was the only NHL team to manage a triple-digit point total in the regular-season standings, finishing with 100 in 70 games. The Lightning were second in the conference with 92 points in 70 contests. Washington finished third in the East with 90 points through 69 games and Philadelphia posted 89 points - also in 69 outings - to sit fourth.

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The Carolina Hurricanes became the first team to advance to the round of 16, sweeping the New York Rangers out of the postseason with a 4-1 victory in Game 3 of their best-of-five qualifying-round series Tuesday night.

More to come.

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Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Jake Muzzin was taken to hospital after being stretchered off Tuesday following an awkward collision late in Game 2 of his club's qualifying-round series against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Columbus center Pierre-Luc Dubois cross-checked Muzzin behind the Toronto net, and the blue-liner then appeared to hit his head on the leg of Blue Jackets winger Oliver Bjorkstrand.

Muzzin briefly sat up while talking to a trainer on the ice. It took several minutes for medical staff to place him on the stretcher before removing him.

Toronto confirmed after its 3-0 victory that Muzzin had been hospitalized. The team added that he was alert and could move all of his limbs.

The NHL's quarantine rules could force the 31-year-old rearguard to miss Toronto's next two games. The Maple Leafs and Blue Jackets are scheduled to play Game 3 on Thursday, with Game 4 to follow on Friday.

Muzzin is a key member of Toronto's defense corps. He ranked third on the team in average ice time during the regular season, logging 21:36 per night while collecting 23 points in 53 contests.

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Connor McDavid needed less than 40 minutes to produce his first career postseason hat trick.

After opening the scoring 19 seconds into Game 2 of the Edmonton Oilers' qualifying-round series against the Chicago Blackhawks, the superstar forward made the highlight reel with an absurd backhand marker off the rush less than four minutes later.

McDavid then capped off the hat trick late in the second period.

With no fans in the building, some improvising was required.

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Minnesota Wild head coach Dean Evason says the team hasn't talked about showing solidarity with Matt Dumba during his protests against racism and in support of Black lives.

"Nope, there's been no discussions, and the only thing that we've discussed as a staff - as I've mentioned before - is that we want to eliminate racism for good," Evason told reporters Monday when asked by theScore's John Matisz whether the club has internally addressed the possibility of locking arms or raising fists along with the defenseman.

Dumba became the first NHL player to kneel during the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" on Saturday. He did so after making an impassioned speech calling attention to racial injustice before the game between the Edmonton Oilers and Chicago Blackhawks.

One day later, he raised his fist while both the American and Canadian anthems played before Minnesota's contest against the Vancouver Canucks.

None of Dumba's teammates joined him in kneeling or raising a fist, but Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse and Blackhawks goaltender Malcolm Subban - both of whom are Black - flanked Dumba and placed their hands on his shoulders as he kneeled Saturday.

Dumba is a member of the Hockey Diversity Alliance, a group co-headed by Akim Aliu and San Jose Sharks forward Evander Kane that was formed in June with the goal of eliminating racism and intolerance in hockey.

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Cam Atkinson scored early in the third period and Alexander Wennberg added an empty-netter as the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-0 in the opening game of their qualifying-round series Sunday night.

Blue Jackets goaltender Joonas Korpisalo stopped all 28 shots he faced in the victory, while Maple Leafs netminder Frederik Andersen turned aside 33 of the 34 shots Columbus fired his way.

Atkinson was involved in both Blue Jackets goals, registering a secondary assist on Wennberg's tally after the Maple Leafs pulled Andersen for the extra attacker.

Columbus outshot Toronto 27-17 over the final 40 minutes.

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The Vegas Golden Knights will turn to their trade deadline acquisition in goal when they begin round-robin play against the Dallas Stars.

Robin Lehner is getting the start Monday, Golden Knights head coach Peter DeBoer told reporters, including The Athletic's Jesse Granger, on Sunday.

Vegas' leading scorer, Max Pacioretty, won't suit up for Monday's contest, but DeBoer said the forward's return is "on the horizon here for sure."

Marc-Andre Fleury, the team's No. 1 goaltender, stopped 22 of the 23 shots he faced in a 4-1 exhibition victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday.

DeBoer said in July he's "not going to be afraid to play either" netminder in the postseason. Fleury said at the time he was fine with competing for the starting role in the playoffs.

The 35-year-old veteran, who's been Vegas' starter since the club's inception, went 27-16-5 with a .905 save percentage and minus-6.5 goals saved above average in 49 games during the 2019-20 regular season.

Lehner, who turned 29 in July, won all three of his starts after joining the Golden Knights, posting a .940 save percentage in those victories. He went 16-10-5 with a .918 save percentage and 10.17 GSAA in 33 contests with the Chicago Blackhawks before the February trade.

Pacioretty has been rehabbing a minor injury and didn't travel with the team last weekend when it flew to Edmonton to enter the Western Conference bubble. The 31-year-old winger led the Golden Knights with 32 goals and 66 points in 2019-20.

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The Winnipeg Jets lost their top-line center to a gruesome-looking injury early in Saturday night's series opener against the Calgary Flames.

Mark Scheifele left the contest after colliding along the boards with Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk less than six minutes in.

The Jets announced at the start of the second period that Scheifele wouldn't return.

Scheifele ranked second on the team with 29 goals and tied for first with 73 points during the regular season.

The 27-year-old has spent his entire nine-year career with the Jets, who drafted him seventh overall in 2011.

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