Nathan MacKinnon scored the only goal of a shootout, and the visiting Colorado Avalanche defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 on Wednesday night.
Avalanche goaltender Alexandar Georgiev, who made 17 saves during the game, stopped William Nylander in the shootout before Auston Matthews’ shot missed and Mitchell Marner had a failed shot attempt.
Mikko Rantanen scored for the Avalanche, who have won three in a row.
Morgan Rielly scored for the Maple Leafs, who have lost two in a row. Ilya Samsonov stopped 28 shots.
The Avalanche were playing the second game of a four-game road trip, while it was the third of four consecutive games at home for the Maple Leafs.
Rielly hit the goal post with a shot 51 seconds into the game.
He then gave Toronto the lead when he scored his third goal of the season at 3:41 of the first period with a shot from the left circle on a pass from Marner. Calle Jarnkrok also earned an assist on the play.
Rantanen scored his 44th goal of the season at 14:08 of the first period when his pass toward the goalmouth during a power play deflected off Toronto defenseman Jake McCabe’s stick into the net. Cale Makar and MacKinnon earned assists. Mark Giordano was off for slashing.
Colorado had a 9-7 advantage in shots on goal after one period.
Samsonov prevented a short-handed goal by Colorado when he stopped Valeri Nichushkin on a breakaway at 3:29 of the second period.
Colorado led 19-11 in shots on goal after the second period.
Toronto killed off two minor penalties early in the third period.
Colorado had a 25-18 advantage in shots on goal after the third period in which both goaltenders were tested.
The Avalanche had a 4-0 edge in shots on goal during the overtime.
With Artturi Lehkonen (broken finger) out, the Avalanche recalled Alex Galchenyuk from the Colorado Eagles of the American Hockey League.
–Field Level Media
