William Nylander produced five points to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 6-3 victory over the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on Saturday. Nylander scored two goals and added three assists, while Auston Matthews recorded two goals and two assists as Toronto pulled away with four unanswered goals.
Nick Blankenburg opened the scoring 3:03 into the first period with his first goal of the season on a wrist shot assisted by Nylander and Nick Paul. Colorado answered later in the frame when Nathan MacKinnon scored two consecutive wrist-shot goals at 10:46 and 15:14, putting the Avalanche ahead 2-1 heading into the first intermission.
Nylander tied the game 2-2 on a power-play snap shot at 6:53 of the second period. Brock Nelson restored Colorado's lead at 12:25 with an unassisted snap shot, but Toronto responded late in the period. Nylander scored his second goal of the night on a wrist shot at 16:47, and Easton Cowan buried a slap shot 46 seconds later at 17:33 to give Toronto a 4-3 advantage.
Matthews widened the gap on the power play at 12:02 of the third period with a wrist shot set up by Nylander and Kirill Marchenko. Matthews then sealed the game with an unassisted empty-net wrist shot at 19:21.
Special teams and goaltending helped secure the outcome for Toronto. The Maple Leafs converted 2 of 4 power-play opportunities and killed off all five Colorado power plays. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 30 of 33 shots to earn the win in net, while Mackenzie Blackwood took the loss with 17 saves on 22 shots for Colorado.
The victory moved the Maple Leafs to 3-2-1 on the season, while the Avalanche dropped to 3-2-0.
Both teams return to the ice on Monday, October 19. The Maple Leafs host the San Jose Sharks, while the Avalanche visit the Philadelphia Flyers.
