- William Nylander tied a career high with five points in a 6-3 Leafs win
- Auston Matthews added two goals and two assists as Toronto got its first road win
- Read below for the Chris Tanev injury and the 46-second burst that flipped the game
William Nylander put up five points Saturday night, and the Maple Leafs needed every one of them.
Nylander scored twice and set up three more goals in Toronto’s 6-3 win over the Avalanche in Denver. The five points tie his career high, and the three assists are a new personal best. Auston Matthews was right there with him, finishing with two goals and two assists.
Colorado went up 2-1 on Nathan MacKinnon’s second goal of the night late in the first period. Then Jaden Schwartz took a high-sticking minor early in the second, and Nylander tied it 19 seconds into the power play with a backhand-to-forehand move around Mackenzie Blackwood. Gavin McKenna fed him the pass off the left post.
Watch the Leafs’ own clip of the McKenna assist:
Brock Nelson put Colorado back in front 3-2, but the Leafs answered late in the second. Nylander tied it at 16:47 with a wrist shot, and Easton Cowan scored 46 seconds later to make it 4-3.
Matthews took over in the third. He scored on the power play at 12:02 with Nylander setting him up, then added an empty-netter for the 6-3 final.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 30 shots for his first win of the season. Nick Blankenburg also scored in his Leafs debut, just 3:03 into the game, after signing his one-year deal on Sept. 27. Toronto improves to 3-2-1 with its first road win of the year.
The night wasn’t all good news. Chris Tanev left in the first period with an upper-body injury and did not return, the team announced:
Tanev is 36 and has dealt with a long list of injuries, including a core muscle surgery last March. He had played all six games this season on the second pair with Morgan Rielly. Oliver Ekman-Larsson is the obvious fill-in if Tanev has to sit.
The Leafs are still finding their feet under Jim Hiller, but a six-goal night against the reigning Presidents’ Trophy winners is a good way to do it.
