The only cryptonite the Avalanche have had at Ball Arena this season is games that require overtime.
Following a 4-3 OT loss to the Maple Leafs on Monday, the Avalanche fell to 19-0-3 at home, and saw their 17-game winning streak in Denver come to an end.
In each of the 19 victories, the game has ended in regulation. Colorado leads the league with 30 regulation wins — seven more than the next closest team.
Only three games required OT, and all three were unsuccessful. The Avs are now 3-8 in 11 OT and shootout games overall.
William Nylander scored the game-winner off a feed from Oliver Ekman-Larsson with 1:01 remaining in the five-minute OT period to secure the first game-winning goal for a player on the road team at Ball Arena all season.
“I would bet they out-chanced us,” head coach Jared Bednar said. “I liked some of the quality chances we got, but in a total, I think they outchanced us with the numbers.”
Before Nylander’s winner, Nathan MacKinnon had a golden opportunity at the other end. MacKinnon and Martin Necas had a two-on-one. The feed went from right to left for a vintage MacKinnon one-timer that hit the crossbar behind goaltender Joseph Woll.
That was Colorado’s best chance in OT, in a back-and-forth game that had a little bit of everything.
“Evenly played game probably. Even first, they beat us in the second. I thought we were better than them in the third,” Bednar said. “But you got to play a full 60 if you want to win. It’s just that simple. So we weren’t quite there tonight.”
MacKinnon finished the night with three assists. Cale Makar and Necas added a goal and an assist, each. In goal, Trent Miner, making his second start in a row, made 27 saves. Colorado outshot Toronto 34-31.
“I was okay. I think I had moments where I was was good, and I think there was ones I’d want to have back too,” Miner said of his performance. “So just take away some things and learn and move on.”
Easton Cowan got the game’s first goal, shooting it from along the boards near the goal line. The rookie banked it in off of Colorado’s Brent Burns in the crease for his seventh of the season at 11:15.
The Avs were being shut down for most of the first. The Leafs had done a great job suppressing their attack.
Until they couldn’t do it anymore.
Colorado took control after killing off a Makar tripping penalty. Makar stayed on the ice after exiting the box. Shortly after that, he got an excellent circle-to-circle pass from Necas and scored his 14th of the season at 16:12.
The Avs were feeling it and kept pressing in the closing minutes of the period. Eventually, Morgan Rielly was called for interference, sending Colorado on the power play.
Toronto has had the league’s top penalty kill as of late, operating at a 95% success rate in its last nine games. But Colorado wasted little time. The top unit came out, won a faceoff, and MacKinnon fed Brock Nelson for a quick one-timer just five seconds into the man advantage. The goal came at 17:53.
That was their only PP goal on three opportunities, including one with 2:42 remaining in regulation.
The Avs carried a 2-1 lead into the second. But early in the period, Bobby McMann broke out all alone and beat Miner with several Avs defenders trailing behind him. That was the only tally in a second period that ended up in the Leafs’ favor for most of the night.
Bednar’s club could only muster eight shots in the middle frame, four of which came in the final few minutes. It took almost nine minutes for Colorado to test Woll in the second. The Leafs, as they had done for most of the first, did an excellent job cycling the puck down low and keeping the Avs from possessing play.
With the game knotted up at 2-2, Scott Laughton and Necas were both sent to the box after tussling behind the play. Necas got holding, while Laughton was nabbed for high-sticking. The officials had the teams play 4-on-4. And just 16 seconds into that sequence, Auston Matthews scored a vintage Matthews goal, beating Miner clean with a wrister into the top corner.
His 22nd of the season gave Toronto yet another lead at 10:22 of the third. But the Avalanche have a way of responding. It’s what has made them so dangerous this season. After Necas exited the box, he got in between the defenders in the crease, battling for positioning and tapped home a feed from MacKinnon at 12:55.
Good: Goaltending Did Enough
Miner, in his second start in a row, looked pretty solid. I can’t complain about the performance he had. Luck was on his side a little bit with the Leafs hitting two posts behind him on shots that beat him clean. But the first goal he surrendered also bounced in off Brent Burns. The second was a breakaway.
The third and fourth goals were scored by two of the league’s best shooters, on well-placed shots. Those were always going to be the ones that could sting the Avs with Miner in goal.
Toronto tried to expose him, especially in the first, by pushing the puck down low to score scrappy goals in the crease. Colorado’s defenders did a great job of helping Miner out (aside from the Burns bounce). But Miner also looked comfortable.
Bad: MacKinnon Gives it Away in OT
MacKinnon had the golden opportunity in OT to end it for the Avs early. It hit the post, and the game went back and forth for a few more shifts.
But after that lengthy Leafs possession, the Avs finally took control and started to work their way up the ice. MacKinnon gave the puck away, sending Matthews and Nylander in on a two-on-one.. The rest is history.
Those types of plays have happened often in 3-on-3 OT throughout his career. Especially in recent years.
MacKinnon had a chance to be the hero, but it didn’t work in his favor.
