Toronto played it without Morgan Rielly and Colton Sissons, both ruled out on game day. That left the Leafs without their top defenseman and a center, and the lineup had already been patched up through the losing streak. It still held up for a while. Colorado led 2-1 after the 1st and 3-2 after the 2nd, so the Leafs were 1 goal away from tying it with 20 minutes left. Colorado closed as a clear favorite and won the way favorites are supposed to.
The 3rd period is where Toronto ran out of legs. Colorado outscored the Leafs 3-1, and the empty-netter made sure nobody remembers how close it was after 40 minutes. A Leafs team that had scored 4 goals in its previous 3 games did put up 3 here. It didn't matter, because the Avalanche turned 28 shots into 6 goals. Toronto's goaltending stopped 22 of the 27 shots it faced, which works out to an .815 save percentage. You don't win many nights in this league with that.
Mackenzie Blackwood was the other half of the gap. He followed his 27-save shutout of Detroit by stopping 28 of 31 against Toronto, a .903 night. It wasn't as clean as the Detroit game, but it was plenty against a lineup missing Rielly's breakouts. Toronto outshot Colorado 31-28 and had nothing to show for the extra pucks. That's the difference between a team on a winning streak and one stuck in a losing one.
The preview asked whether a short-handed Leafs lineup could slow Colorado's top players and finally score at home. Toronto did score, more than it had in any game during the skid. But a Colorado team without Josh Manson didn't need to chase, because the Leafs never got the lead the preview said they'd need. The losing streak is now 4, and Minnesota and Edmonton come in next on this homestand. Toronto hasn't figured out how to stop the bleeding without Rielly, and the next 2 opponents won't make it easier.
Colorado heads home with a 6-3 win in the building where it lost the first meeting 6-3 in Denver last month, the same score going the other way. The concern from the 7-2 loss in Columbus didn't show up here, and the Avs got this one without needing MacKinnon or Makar to carry it. That's a good sign for a team that will be short a defenseman until late December.
