William Nylander scored twice and had three assists in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 6-3 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on Saturday.
The five points tied a career high for Nylander. The forward had two goals and three assists against the Calgary Flames on Dec. 10, 2022.
“I was just going out there playing. I got some really nice passes to be able to score those two goals,” Nylander said. “I think the power play was good and created a lot of chances there, except for that one that was kind of bad, but forget about that one.”
Auston Matthews scored twice and had two assists, Nick Blankenburg scored in his Toronto debut, and Nick Paul had 2 assists for the Maple Leafs (3-2-1), who got their first road win of the season. Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves for his first win of the season.
“We haven’t been good enough in front of him in his first couple starts, and he’s had to come up big and hasn’t gotten rewarded for it,” Matthews said of Bobrovsky. “I would have loved to see him get a win earlier, but, obviously, coming into this building against this opponent, he was huge for us tonight, and (it was) well deserved.
“’Bob’ came up with some huge saves, and power play came through. PK was solid, and sometimes you just got to weather the storm, bend, don’t break, and just grind out a win, and I thought we did that tonight.”
Nathan MacKinnon scored twice, and Brock Nelson also scored for the Avalanche (3-2-0), who have lost two of three. Mackenzie Blackwood made 17 saves.
“I wasn’t disappointed with the number of chances we gave up. I just did not like some of the chances,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “Like just mental mistakes, that’s what it was. Wasn’t from lack of effort, lack of try. It was mental mistakes, and when they got their chances, they capitalized on them.
“I’m not going to tell you who they are, but we had a couple players that made multiple mental mistakes that led to really good scoring chances against. So for me, it’s like you got the team doing it right, and you got a couple guys that weren’t there for us tonight and it costs us. I think, again, it’s not the number; it’s just sort of the quality and the type of breakdown for me could have easily been solved with a little awareness, a little talk, and it wasn’t there.”
Blankenburg made it 1-0 Toronto at 3:03 of the first period after he activated from the point down to the left circle, caught a crossing pass from Nylander at the left wall, and fired a wrist shot short side over the glove. The defenseman made his Maple Leafs debut after signing a one-year contract on Sept. 27.
“Obviously, first time you get in a game in the year, you’re a little bit nervous, but I think it’s a good kind of nervous, like excited,” said Blankenburg. “So to get one here in the first shift definitely felt nice. So kind of took a weight off the shoulders and (I can) just kind of go out there and play.”
MacKinnon tied it 1-1 at 10:46 with a wrist shot from in close on the left that went five-hole. He entered the zone with speed, cut outside and around defenseman Morgan Rielly and drove the net from the right circle to set up the shot.
MacKinnon scored again to give Colorado a 2-1 lead at 15:14. He fired a wrister from above the center hashes that went off the glove of Bobrovsky, who was screened by Martin Necas.
“I liked the first and I liked the third,” Toronto coach Jim Hiller said. “They had a couple rush chances in the first, (and) second period got a little crazy. But what a response in the third period.
“Tonight, we’re able to get it done.”
Nylander scored a power-play goal to tie it 2-2 at 6:53 of the second period. He took a crossing pass from Gavin McKenna off the left post, walked in, and went backhand to forehand around Blackwood for the shot into the open net.
“Unbelievable pass on that first goal,” Nylander said of McKenna. “He did a great job, and he’s so talented, and he can make those plays all over the ice.”
Nelson broke the tie to make it 3-2 Colorado at 12:25 of the second when he snapped his own rebound short side over Bobrovsky’s right shoulder.
“The chances that we do give up are just way too dangerous,” said Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog. “You look at the two goals they scored at the end of the second. … So just too dangerous of scoring chances to give up against a team like this. But overall, I mean, besides that, I think we’re doing a lot of good things.
“Special teams just wasn’t good enough tonight. Simple as that. We’ll be better.”
Nylander tied it 3-3 at 16:47 with a wrist shot from above the right inside hash that went far side past the blocker. Paul started the sequence when he chopped down Brett Kulak’s clearing attempt at the blue line and fed Matthews at the bottom of the right circle before the latter connected with Nylander. It was Nylander’s 700th NHL point.
“He was great. I thought he was just skating all over the puck, making plays,” Matthews said. “Beautiful pass on the power play to me, and he was just all over tonight. One of those games where it just seemed like he had the puck on his stick a lot and he was making things happen. It’s a big-time game from him.”
Easton Cowan scored to make it 4-3 at 17:33 when his one-timer from under the right dot beat Blackwood inside the right post. Rielly passed it down to Cowan from above the left circle.
Matthews extended the lead to 5-3 with a power-play goal at 12:02 of the third period. His wrist shot from the right circle hashes went short side past the glove. Nylander hit Matthews with a backhand pass from below the left circle to set him up.
Matthews scored an empty-net goal at 19:21 for the 6-3 final.
“They had a night, but again, I think that’s more on us, like the type of chance we gave up,” said Bednar. “They get some looks on the power play, it’s back of the net. You got to give them credit, though, I mean, because they capitalized on what they got and they earned what they got. I just I think we have to be in a position and expect more from ourselves with the way we handled some of those situations.”
