Toronto Maple Leafs Easily Beat Colorado Avalanche 5-2

(Photo by Kevin Sousa/Icon Sportswire)

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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1

2

3

OT

FINAL

TORONTO

1

3

1

5

COLORADO

1

0

1

2

 

GAME SUMMARY         |           EVENT SUMMARY        |           FACEOFF SUMMARY


ON THE SCORESHEET

–       Kasperi Kapanen opened the scoring for the Maple Leafs at 3:17 of the first period before scoring the fourth Toronto goal of the night on the power play at 7:08 of the second period. Kapanen has goals (3) in two consecutive games. He has three goals in two games against the Avalanche this season. Tonight’s game is his fourth multi-goal and 10th multi-point game of the season.

–       Auston Matthews registered the lone assist on Kapanen’s first period goal and later scored Toronto’s second goal of the game before collecting the secondary assist on Nazem Kadri’s second period goal. Matthews leads the Maple Leafs in power play goals with nine. Tonight’s game is Matthews’ sixth multi-assist and 16th multi-point game of the season. He has registered three or more points on six occasions this season.

–       Nazem Kadri scored the third Maple Leafs goal of the night on the power play at 6:46 of the second period before scoring the fifth Toronto goal of the game at 5:42 of the third period. Kadri’s second period goal is his fourth power play goal of the season. He registered 12 power play goals in both the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons. All four of his power play goals have come against Western Conference opponents. Tonight’s game is Kadri’s third multi-goal and ninth multi-point game of the season.

–       John Tavares registered the primary assist on Matthews’ second period goal before adding the primary assist on Kadri’s second period goal. Tonight’s game is Tavares’ sixth multi-assist and 19th multi-point game of the season. Tavares has four multi-point performances over his last five games. His two power play assists are his second time recording multiple power play points in a game this season (Previous: Nov. 13 vs. Los Angeles).

–       Mitch Marner picked up the secondary assist on Matthews’ second period goal. Marner leads the Maple Leafs in power play points with 16 (3-13-16). He has 33 points in 27 road games this season (9-24-33).

–       William Nylander recorded the primary assist on Kadri’s third period goal. Nylander has four points (2-2-4) over his last five games. Six of Nylander’s eight assists have been primary assists this season.

–       Andreas Johnsson had the secondary assist on Kadri’s third period goal. Johnsson has eight points (4-4-8) over his last five games. He has two assists in two games against the Avalanche this season.

–       Frederik Andersen stopped 34 shots to earn the victory tonight.

SHOTS ON GOAL (5-on-5 in brackets)

 

1st

2nd

3rd

OT

TOTAL

TORONTO

9 (7)

12 (5)

7 (7)

28 (19)

COLORADO

17 (15)

10 (9)

9 (5)

36 (29)

 

SHOT ATTEMPTS (5-on-5 in brackets)

 

 

1st

2nd

3rd

OT

TOTAL

TORONTO

15 (11)

18 (11)

11 (11)

44 (33)

COLORADO

30 (26)

17 (16)

19 (12)

66 (54)

 

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

 

–       The Maple Leafs are 18-7-2 on the road this season.

–       Toronto’s all-time record is 31-39-9-3 in 82 games against the Avalanche franchise and 13-18-5-2 in 38 games played on the road.

–       Toronto is 14-7-0 against the Western Conference this season and 6-5-0 against the Central Division.

MAPLE LEAFS LEADERS

Shots

5 (Nylander)

Shot Attempts

7 (Nylander)

Faceoff Wins

11 (Tavares)

Faceoff Win Percentage

100% (Brown, Marleau)

Hits

5 (Hainsey)

Blocked Shots

3 (Hainsey, Marleau)

Takeaways

3 (Matthews)

TOI

22:37 (Rielly)

Power Play TOI

4:09 (Kadri, Matthews)

Shorthanded TOI

4:28 (Zaitsev)

Shifts

27 (Rielly)

5-on-5 Shot Attempt Percentage

62.5% (Gardiner – 15 for, 9 against)

 

 

RECORD WHEN…

–       The Maple Leafs were 3-for-3 on the penalty kill and 3-for-6 on the power play tonight. Toronto is 21-10-1 when not allowing a power play goal this season and 6-0-0 when scoring multiple power play goals.

–       Toronto is 25-5-1 when scoring the first goal of the game.

–       The Maple Leafs are 9-6-1 when tied after one period and 27-0-0 when leading after two periods.

–          Toronto is 20-7-3 when outshot by their opponent.

–          The Maple Leafs are 7-0-0 in Tuesday games.

OF NOTE…

 

–          Toronto scored three power play goals in the second period of tonight’s game within a 1:49 span, which tied the mark for the fifth-fastest three power play goals in franchise history. The fastest three power play goals in franchise history occurred in 1:16 on February 9, 1952 vs. Montreal.

–          The Maple Leafs scored three power play goals in a game for the fourth time this season.

–          Toronto’s line of Connor Brown, Frederik Gauthier and Par Lindholm were the lone Maple Leafs to not start a 5-on-5 shift in the offensive zone.

–          Jake Gardiner was on the ice for a team-high in Toronto shot attempts-for at 5-on-5 (15). Gardiner had a team-high 5-on-5 shot attempt percentage of 62.5 percent (15 for, 9 against).

–          John Tavares won 75 percent (6 won, 2 lost) of his offensive zone faceoffs and won 80 percent (4 won, 1 lost) of his defensive zone faceoffs tonight.

UPCOMING GAMES:

–       Thursday, February 14, 10:00 p.m. at Vegas Golden Knights (Sportsnet Ontario, TSN 1050)

–       Saturday, February 16, 7:00 p.m. at Arizona Coyotes (Hockey Night in Canada, FAN 590)

–       Tuesday, February 19, 8:00 p.m. at St. Louis Blues (Sportsnet Ontario, TSN 1050)

–       Thursday, February 21, 7:00 p.m. vs. Washington Capitals (TSN4, FAN 590)

–       Saturday, February 23, 7:00 p.m. vs. Montreal Canadiens (Hockey Night in Canada, FAN 590)

 

POSTGAME QUOTES:

HEAD COACH MIKE BABCOCK

 

On the power play building off its effort in New York on Sunday:

For sure. For a while there, obviously, it was going bad. We weren’t doing good things and when you don’t do good things, good things don’t happen. When you start to do good things again and you get competitive – I thought Tavares made some unbelievable plays on it, to tell you the truth – but it was great to see our guys be rewarded. It gives them a bit of swagger back and obviously, it was a difference in the game.

On encouraging the power play units to draw up plays:

Well, exactly. What we tried to do is just basically we wanted them to play. We’ve got structure, we’ve got our scheme, for sure, but we wanted them to play. The biggest thing when we haven’t done anything lately is there’s been no plays, no speed. I think when you’re pressing those things happen, but this happens every once in a while, and you’ve got to fight your way through it. It’s just like anything, dig in and make it happen. I thought the guys did a good job.

On Kapanen scoring a power play goal after being put on the second unit:

We did it the other night and it was one of those things. We didn’t like our first power play with that group and, so, we just tried it and good for him. I thought Kappy was real strong for us tonight. I thought the Matthews line dominated the game and I thought, in particular, he was really good.

On the decision to shuffle the defensive pairs in the second period:

Just because we didn’t like how we broke out in the first period. As a group, we knew coming in with altitude and we traveled, we got in really late, we knew we were going to struggle. We talked about the first 10 minutes and trying to survive. We were able to get the goal and do that. Didn’t break out. It was also something we’ve been talking quite a bit about just because we think [Rielly] should play on the left, we think he provides way more offence, way more shots and he’s a better player over there. It’s important to have your best guys play in their best spots. I had talked to [Muzzin] about it earlier anyway. I’m not saying that’s going to be next game, but that’s what we did tonight.

On the depth on the blueline making it possible to experiment with pairs:

There’s six pretty good guys there. I just think it’s a good situation. We’ll figure it out over time, what the right way is to do it. Right now, we’re just a work in progress.

On Nylander developing chemistry with Kadri:

It was a good night for Naz and obviously Willy made some unbelievable plays, it was good for Willy too. I don’t know how many points Willy had, a couple for sure, but I thought the assist that he made on the power play and the one there late to Naz was a great play.

 

FREDERIK ANDERSEN (34 SAVES)

 

On if the altitude came into play tonight:

Yeah, I mean, the first bit of morning skate I thought it was good, that’s when you feel the worst. Get a good flush in and be ready for the game. I think you feel fine when you’re at the game. First period we came out pretty good and I think guys, the players, found their legs a little more and crushing it on the pp there.

On if he was happy for the team’s power play success tonight:

I haven’t really paid attention to it too much before but I think it’s always nice to see your special teams doing well. Like I said, I don’t worry too much about if it’s going good or bad. Just try to support them if there’s something I can help with, but I thought they obviously did a great job today of gaining momentum when they gave us that four-minute [power play]. Obviously, great to score twice.

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