TORONTO - The Toronto Maple Leafs helped their chances of winning the upcoming draft lottery by falling to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday night.
The Leafs can finish no higher than 29th place overall after dropping a 5-1 decision to the Blue Jackets in their final home game of the season. Now solely alone in last place after an Edmonton win against Vancouver, Toronto will have either the best odds of landing the No. 1 overall pick (20 per cent) or the second-best odds (13.5 per cent).
The Leafs, who have two games remaining, can still finish with more points than the Oilers, though a tie would see Edmonton finish higher.
"I see where people are coming from," Leafs centre Tyler Bozak said of lottery implications before the game. "Obviously (fans) want the No. 1 pick and if you lose you've got a better chance of getting it so I see what people are saying. But within our room there's not one guy in here who wants to lose."
Brandon Saad, Brandon Dubinsky, with two, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Matt Calvert scored for Columbus and Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves.
Morgan Rielly found the back of the net for Toronto, with Garret Sparks stopping 27-of-32 shots on Fan Appreciation Night.
