Leafs peak too soon in OT loss to Avalanche

One thing needed to give.

Auston Matthews and the Maple Leafs entered Saturday evening’s sport in Denver dealing with an Avalanche staff with essentially the most potent offence within the NHL. Matthews rifled two targets within the first interval, however the residence aspect struck again with its league-leading firepower in overcoming a 4-1 deficit for a 5-4 time beyond regulation win.

Matthews’s targets got here 33 seconds aside and vaulted him to 22 on the season. That propelled him from seventh to 3rd within the NHL in targets, behind solely Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl and Washington’s Alex Ovechkin.

It additionally provides Matthews 220 as a Leaf, transferring forward of Lanny McDonald for eleventh in franchise historical past. It was his forty fifth multi-goal sport since he joined the league in 2016-17. Solely Ovechkin (46) has had extra.

Blame sport: Leafs goalie Jack Campbell will flip 30 Sunday. He doesn’t seem like letting up on himself in terms of robust losses.

“If I play as much as normal, we win that sport on daily basis,” Campbell mentioned.

Colorado outshot Toronto 19-6 over the third interval and time beyond regulation, and 47-25 general — 75-43 on complete shot makes an attempt

Certainly, the Leafs blew a 4-1 second-period lead. However the Avalanche, with seven video games of seven targets or extra this season, started rolling within the third interval and there isn’t a staff within the NHL that seems to have the ability to deal with them after they do. It was the Leafs’ first loss when main after two durations (17-1).

Matthews defended Campbell after the sport: “I believe he did the whole lot he might. That’s a reasonably good staff over there, however Soup did the whole lot he might.

“They make performs, they've some nice gamers on their aspect, they usually received the momentum going within the second half of the sport. However not at all do I believe Jack Campbell didn’t play as much as his normal tonight, as a result of he was unbelievable for us, similar to he’s been unbelievable for us all 12 months …. That (glove save within the second interval) will be the save of the 12 months.”

Sizzling at residence: The Avalanche set a franchise document with their eleventh straight win on residence ice. Whereas Matthews had a monster sport, the Avs definitely displayed why they're a Stanley Cup favorite.

They jumped on the Leafs from the opening faceoff and had a 14-3 lead in shot makes an attempt earlier than the eighth minute of the primary interval. However Alex Kerfoot scored on the Leafs’ first shot of the sport. The guests took a 3-1 lead into the intermission.

Nathan McKinnon and Cale Makar scored for Colorado, Makar along with his fifteenth of the season and thirteenth in his final 17 video games.

He’s the quickest defenceman to fifteen targets (27 video games) since Dave Ellett in 1989.

The Avs lead the NHL with 35 targets from the defence. Blueliner Devon Toews scored the winner in time beyond regulation.

“I believed our guys put loads of effort into the primary interval, they usually had been working out of fuel within the third interval … you possibly can really feel it coming within the second and third interval, however I take nothing however positives out of that sport,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe mentioned.

Kerfoot clicks: Kerfoot continued to point out his versatility. He moved as much as the Leafs’ prime line with Matthews and Michael Bunting, and scored a aim and added two assists within the first interval. Colorado pulled goalie Darcy Kuemper within the first interval after the Leafs scored thrice on their first 9 pictures.

“I believed Alex was unbelievable for us tonight,” Keefe mentioned of Kerfoot, who was bumped as much as the primary line with Mitch Marner in COVID-19 protocols.

Keefe added that he wasn’t sure if Marner or Pierre Engvall, additionally on the COVID-19 checklist, could be recovered in time for Tuesday’s sport in Las Vegas.