Postgame: Avalanche Get Clobbered In Special Teams, Fall 6-3 to Maple Leafs

October 11, 2026 · Yahoo Sports

IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The power play struggles of a year ago have seemingly bled into the new season. The Colorado Avalanche, despite going 4-for-5 on opening night, have not scored a power-play goal on 13 tries since. They were 0-for-5 on Saturday night at Ball Arena and fell 6-3 to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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Toronto scored twice on four power play chances, breaking through a Colorado penalty kill that was a perfect 10-for-10 in four games coming in.

“It’s not a great night. But it all adds up to just one loss, so there are things to fix,” head coach Jared Bednar said. “I didn’t like some of those decisions in the penalty kill either. We leave a guy wide open on the backside on the first one, and then we were trying to do something on the rush late in the game, and we got caught on the outside of that one. We need to do a better job protecting our house.”

Nathan MacKinnon had two goals for the Avalanche and Brock Nelson had one. The Maple Leafs were led by a five-point performance from William Nylander, who scored twice. Auston Matthews also added two goals and four points. They also got goals from former Av Nick Blankenburg and Easton Cowan.

The Avs led 2-1 and 3-2 before giving up the last four, including an empty netter in the dying seconds.

“I was disappointed with the number of chances we gave up. I did not like some of the chances, like just mental mistakes,” Bednar said. “That’s what it was. wasn’t from lack of effort or lack of trying. It was mental mistakes, and when they got their chances, they capitalized on them.”

The Maple Leafs finished with six goals on just 22 shots. They had four goals on 12 shots through the first 40 minutes and, as Bednar said, made the most of them.

The Avalanche didn’t get a shot on goal for more than five minutes to open the game. They were already trailing 1-0 by then and had the only power play, which was as lifeless a man-advantage as they’ve had all year.

But when they finally got going, the shots started to pile on. Over the next six and a half minutes, Colorado had seven shots and MacKinnon had five of them.

He also scored to even the score, skating from the Avs’ end and around the Leafs’ defense, before sliding it past goalie Sergei Bobrovsky five-hole. MacKinnon’s tally came at 10:46, nearly eight minutes after Blankenburg scored on his first shift of the season.

MacKinnon didn’t need nearly as long to give the Avs the lead. Later in the period, he collected the puck and began to skate in the offensive zone. He started near Bobrovsky’s net with defenseman Jake McCabe on his tail. McCabe followed him as he circled the net and came up to the high slot before putting it on goal with several bodies in front.

It beat the traffic and the goalie, giving the Avalanche a 2-1 lead at 15:46.

Before the period ended, Jack Roslovic was called for hooking, sending the Avalanche back to the power play. They got some good looks late, but the opportunities they had early in the second were far more dangerous. Bobrovsky was up to the task each time. Troy Stetcher was called for tripping 51 seconds in, setting up a 5-on-3 for Colorado with just nine seconds left on Roslovic’s penalty.

The Avs kept attacking; Bobrovsky kept making saves. The Leafs ended up killing both. Bobrovsky was a big reason why, along with some luck as the Avalanche would sometimes beat the goalie but not the post.

Several minutes later, Jaden Schwartz took Colorado’s first penalty and Nylander capitalized on the man advantage just 19 seconds later on Toronto’s first shot of the period.

The momentum didn’t quite shift with the goal. Despite the score being tied 2-2, Colorado continued to get the better opportunities and control play. Nelson’s goal at 12:25 put the Avs back in the lead.

By the time the period ended, the Maple Leafs were up 4-3. They didn’t get a lot of opportunities, but they took advantage of the ones they got. At 16:47, Nylander beat Blackwood again to even the score. And 46 seconds later, Cowan fired a one-timer past the Avs’ netminder to put the Avalanche behind.

Blackwood faced four shots in the second period and three went in. Toronto scored on their last two and the Avs, despite holding a 24-12 shot advantage through 40 minutes, trailed by a goal.

“He needs to give us a save. Needs to give us a save at some point there,” Bednar said. “I can’t blame him for any of the goals, none. But if you’re giving up four shots in a period and three goals, you’d like him to make a save on some of those. I’m sure he feels the same way.”

Blackwood remained in goal for the third. And Matthews added a power-play tally at 12:02 and an empty-netter to put the game away. Blackwood finished with 17 saves, while Bobrovsky stopped 30 of 33 at the other end.

I’ve appreciated Bednar pumping up his starting goalie since opening night. And, for the most part, I do agree that Blackwood had a strong camp and looks more dialed in and focused than he did last season when he was dealing with an injury. Physically, Blackwood looks like he had a great offseason of training.

But in the end, it’s the results that matter. And it might be a little concerning that Blackwood has started four games this year and has surrendered 13 goals on just 98 shots. By the time this one was over, Blackwood had an .867 save percentage since opening night. Those aren’t championship numbers. It’s still early, but it gets late quickly in the NHL. Especially with goalie struggles, as we saw two years ago.

Good: MacKinnon

It took five games for Bednar to roll with MacKinnon again and again. The Avalanche’s superstar, who often plays heavy minutes, barely cracked the 20-minute mark once through the season’s first four games. And that includes the one in Winnipeg when the Avs were tied or trailing by one for the entire third period.

I often question if Bednar should be overplaying his top guy, but not this time. MacKinnon was fantastic against the Maple Leafs. He had eight shots on goal, including five in a six-minute stretch in the first period. MacKinnon finished with 23:56 of ice time.

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