TORONTO — The Colorado Avalanche came here with a depleted lineup and it got worse, both before the game and during. Then they spotted the Maple Leafs a three-goal lead.
Then the best collection of star power in the NHL went to work. Colorado came all the way back, with Nathan MacKinnon providing the game-winner in a stunning 5-3 victory. MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Jonathan Drouin all had two points in the win, while Toronto’s top forwards did not make it on the scoresheet.
“There’s no magic recipe when you’re down 3-0,” MacKinnon said. “We just saw the game through, did our best and managed to come back.
“Down 3-0, it’s not fun, but we stayed resilient. They didn’t play their best, I didn’t think, in the last two periods and we managed to come back.”
The Avs have been shorthanded of late with four key players out of the lineup, but Valeri Nichushkin was unable to play because of an illness. He and Miles Wood are both currently sick, and other players have been under the weather at times in recent days as well.
Colorado went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen, but finished with six because Jack Johnson left the game with a lower-body injury.
“It sucks,” MacKinnon said. “We’ve been hurt. It feels like every year we are hurt. Guys are out and it’s really frustrating. We’re trying our best, and we got a win tonight.”
The Avalanche responded after a rough opening period with a much better second to make it a game. Both goals were fortuitous, but the Avs did a much better job of controlling the proceedings.
Drouin scored from the slot on a quick pass from Ross Colton. The Avs were on a power play and had a delayed penalty coming, so MacKinnon tried to give the puck to the Maple Leafs. TJ Brodie avoided the puck, and it went right to Colton.
Drouin has seven goals and 16 points in his past 15 games and continues to look right at home on both the Avalanche first line and top power-play unit.
The Avs’ top line stuck to make it a one-goal game, with an assist from Toronto’s Auston Matthews. Drouin nearly set up MacKinnon for a redirect off the rush, then Matthews passed the puck right to Samuel Girard at the top of the zone. His shot deflected right to Rantanen, who collected his 22nd goal of the season.
Colorado continued to dictate the play at the start of the third period. The Avs did not score on a power play, but had several chances and found the equalizer soon after. Josh Manson’s shot from the right point didn’t reach the net, but landed at the feet of Andrew Cogliano, who scored 7:35 into the game.
“The team was resilient,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “They just kept working and grinding away, trying to play our game and the best of our ability with the belief that we can scratch and claw our way back into it. I thought it was a really gutsy effort from our team tonight.”
It couldn’t have gone much worse in the first period for the Avalanche. Toronto led 3-0 at the first intermission after a calamitous cocktail of bad luck, bad turnovers and trouble in front of their own net.
Max Domi put the Maple Leafs on the board with a fluky goal after the Avs committed an icing infraction. His shot from the left point was altered as he let it go, then it hit Manson in the chest and changed directions.
Morgen Rielly made it 2-0 after an uncharacteristic and unfortunate mistake by Devon Toews. He got the puck with his glove near the Colorado blue line, but when he dropped it to the ice near his feet, Rielly poked it away from him and into open ice before skating in alone and scoring.
Both of those goals could be explained away, but the third one was ugly. Timothy Liljegren pounced on a loose puck to the right of the Colorado net, with nearly all five of the Avs watching in close proximity after Pontus Holmberg was standing over Alexandar Georgiev unencumbered trying to stuff one past him.
There were some positives to take from the opening 20 minutes, and the Avs have proven repeatedly that they have the offensive firepower to reverse a significant deficit.
“I didn’t hate the first period,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “We clearly made a handful of mistakes and they had a little puck luck.
“They were more hungry around the net than we were at their end, which is an adjustment I think we made as the game went on. I think we did a nicer job of getting to the net front and were a little bit more dangerous, a little bit more competitive as the game went on.”
Want more Avalanche news? Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis.
