Key Takeaways
- Colorado beat Toronto 6–3 at Scotiabank Arena with three straight goals in the third period.
- Gabriel Landeskog scored twice, including the winner 51 seconds after the Leafs tied the game.
- Toronto has lost four straight and six of its last seven.
Toronto tied it 3-3. Colorado took it back 51 seconds later.
For a few seconds, Toronto looked like it might finally stop the bleeding. Then Gabriel Landeskog scored, and the Maple Leafs' comeback unravelled.
The Colorado Avalanche beat Toronto 6-3 at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday night, scoring three unanswered goals in the third period to hand the Leafs their fourth straight defeat.
It started promisingly for Toronto. Darren Raddysh blasted a 92.89 mph one-timer past Colorado at 3:33 of the first period, scoring his first goal as a Leaf off an Auston Matthews feed.
But Colorado responded before the period ended. Brock Nelson and Gabriel Landeskog scored to give the visitors a 2-1 lead. Devon Toews made it 3-1 early in the second.
Toronto wasn't finished.
The comeback that lasted 51 seconds
Easton Cowan brought the Leafs within one with a late second-period power-play goal, fed by Gavin McKenna.
Then, at 4:11 of the third, Jack Roslovic broke away and beat the goaltender five-hole, holding off Brett Kulak to make it 3-3.
The crowd had its comeback.
Colorado had other plans.
At 5:02, Landeskog redirected Nazem Kadri's cross-crease pass from below the goal line, scoring his second goal of the night and restoring Colorado's lead.
Just like that, Toronto's comeback was gone.
Artturi Lehkonen added another breakaway goal at 17:15, beating Sergei Bobrovsky through the pads. Martin Necas put the final touch on the 6-3 victory with an empty-net goal just 15 seconds later.
Bobrovsky's numbers aren't getting prettier
Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 28 shots for Colorado. Bobrovsky made 22 saves for Toronto.
The 38-year-old, signed in free agency on July 1, has now lost five consecutive starts. Even more concerning: he has allowed three or more goals in 12 of his 13 starts as a Leaf.
Two teams heading in opposite directions
Colorado improves to 11-6-2, collecting points in six of its last seven games (5-1-1).
Toronto falls to 8-10-2. That's four consecutive losses and six defeats in its last seven games.
One team is building momentum. The other is struggling to find a way out.
The Twikup Take
Toronto did the difficult part: erased a two-goal deficit, tied the game and gave its home crowd a reason to believe.
Then came 51 seconds that changed everything.
Kadri, a former Maple Leaf, helped set up the goal that crushed the comeback. And the Leafs once again left the building asking the same question.
Toronto doesn't just need to find a way back into games. It needs to learn how to stay there.
Image: Captain Gabriel Landeskog of the Colorado Avalanche during the 2013–14 season by 5of7, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.