COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Toronto Maple Leafs wanted to continue their climb up the playoff ladder, and the Columbus Blue Jackets were trying to reach the top of the Eastern Conference standings.

The Maple Leafs came into Nationwide Arena on Wednesday night and asserted themselves from the start, powering their way to a 5-2 victory over the Blue Jackets in a hard-hitting game could wind up being a first-round playoff preview depending on how the rest of the regular season plays out.

Leo Komarov, Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Nazem Kadri and Nikita Zaitsev scored goals in Toronto's convincing road win over one of the best teams in the NHL. Kadri, Zaitsev, Nylander and Komarov also had assists.

The surging Maple Leafs (34-23-15) moved past Boston into third place in the Atlantic Division. Toronto is on a 6-1-1 run since returning from a West Coast trip.

"We got ourselves a good win on the road here," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "I thought we played well against a good team. We scored some timely goals."

The Blue Jackets (47-19-6) missed a chance to move into a tie atop the Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference standings with the Washington Capitals. However, they will have another opportunity to catch the Capitals when the teams meet Thursday night in Washington.

"That's one of the better teams that we've faced in a little while here," Blue Jackets center Nick Foligno said. "I think we weren't ready and it cost us.

"We have to be opportunistic. That was the difference in the game tonight. We've got to find a way to do a better job."

What really cost the Blue Jackets was their failure to capitalize on a five-minute major penalty and game misconduct against Maple Leafs defenseman Roman Polak early in the third period while trailing 3-2.

Polak rammed Oliver Bjorkstrand into the boards and was sent off. The man advantage was extended to nearly seven minutes when Toronto neglected to put a player in the penalty box, but Columbus still couldn't score.

"We needed to do something there and we didn't," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. "We needed to at least generate some momentum and we didn't do that let alone score a goal. We were just ineffective. We just didn't have a lot of guys making plays tonight."

Toronto then added to its lead on a rebound goal by Kadri with 4:14 remaining and an empty-netter by Zaitsev with 2:47 left. Kadri's goal was his 30th of the season.

"Coming into a hostile building, that's a great team we're facing in Columbus and they do a lot of good things well ... we took advantage of our chances and got the win," Kadri said.

David Savard and Brandon Saad scored in the second period as the Blue Jackets rallied to tie, but they ultimately saw their four-game winning streak end.

Frederik Andersen finished with 32 saves for Toronto, and Columbus backup goaltender Joonas Korpisalo made 27 stops.

Komarov scored the first goal of the game and his 12th goal of the season at 8:55 of the first period. Two minutes later, Matthews gathered a rebound of his own shot during a power play in front of Korpisalo and shoved the puck into the net for his 33rd goal of the season and a 2-0 Toronto lead.

The Blue Jackets trimmed their deficit to 2-1 only 43 seconds into the second period with Savard's sixth goal of the season. Saad scored the equalizer at 6:58 of the second when he redirected a shot from the blue line by Zach Werenski for this 21st goal of the season.

But the Maple Leafs moved back in front at 13:23 when Nylander beat Korpisalo stick side on a breakaway that made it 3-2. Nylander boosted his rookie-season totals to 20 goals and 53 points.

"I thought we crawled back into the game," Tortorella said. "We just can't let him get behind us when it's 2-2. That one hurt."

NOTES: The Blue Jackets sat LW Scott Hartnell as a healthy scratch and replaced him with rookie Lukas Sedlak. Coach John Tortorella elected to move Sedlak from center to Hartnell's spot on the fourth line. The move was not to rest Hartnell but a result of RW Oliver Bjorkstrand emerging since his Feb. 13 call-up from the AHL. Bjorkstrand has six goals and four assists. "Scottie Hartnell wants to play," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said, according to NHL.com. "I need to look at different lineups." ... Columbus G Sergei Bobrovsky sat out the front end of a back-to-back ahead of the trip to Washington on Thursday night to face the Capitals. ... Blue Jackets C Alexander Wennberg returned after missing Sunday's game against the New Jersey Devils with a stiff neck. ... Toronto also has a back-to-back, returning home on Thursday night to face the New Jersey Devils. ... The Maple Leafs signed 2015 second-round draft pick Jeremy Bracco to a three-year, entry-level contract. The 20-year-old has 147 points in 106 career OHL games.