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“I’m doing better now, but can you imagine?” Babcock said. “It’s all my fault, me, the two assistants on the bench, two in the video room and 15 players on the bench. And we can’t get that done right?

“Often it happens and you just fire a guy in the box. It could have cost you. It will never happen in my lifetime again, I will never wait to put a guy in. But our penalty kill was really good.”

The Leafs desperately tried to ice it once the major was up, but Korpisalo smartly negated them to keep play going so long the Leafs in essence killed another power play. Brian Boyle finally got over the Leaf blue line with enough time and space to fire it in the Jackets’ bench, joking that he gave old friend John Tortorella a warning it was coming. Toronto allowed just one shot on that power play.

“Being persistent, staying with it, trusting the process,” Kadri recited as reasons for the Leafs recent run. “We were on a tough stretch for awhile and fell behind, but we believed in the dressing room.”

Before the game, there was reason to fear expressed by Jackets coach Tortorella, who worried his team might look past the wild-card Leafs to their Thursday tussle in Washington against Capitals, which will be vital for Metropolitan Division lead purposes. But Foligno also figured that the April 9 game in Toronto that ends the NHL schedule would have some kind of meaning for both clubs, who were worst in the Eastern Conference last year.

“I think it will, that’s the parity in the league now,” Foligno said before the game. “Just because you’re in doesn’t mean you know where you are going to be seeded. It’s making for great hockey down the stretch, teams are fighting like hell to get in and we’re enjoying it.

“It’s a great feeling for both our clubs. I’m sure they’re feeling good they’ve given themselves a chance and us, it’s knowing we want to be a better team and that last year, we didn’t live up to that. It was coming in here with something to prove. There’s lot’s of moving and shaking still to do.”

LHornby@postmedia.com