William Nylander scored twice and set up three more goals as the Toronto Maple Leafs rallied past the Colorado Avalanche 6-3 on Saturday at Ball Arena, erasing an early two-goal deficit with five unanswered tallies.
Nylander’s five-point performance paced a Toronto comeback that turned on a three-goal second period. Nathan MacKinnon scored twice for Colorado in the opening frame, but Mackenzie Blackwood allowed five goals on 22 shots, finishing with a .773 save percentage.
Key Moments: How Toronto Pulled Away
Nick Blankenburg opened the scoring 3:03 into the first period on a wrist shot, assisted by Nylander and Nick Paul. MacKinnon answered twice in the first, first on a wrist shot at 10:46 and again at 15:14, giving Colorado a 2-1 lead after one period.
The Avalanche briefly extended that lead to 3-2 when The Avalanche briefly extended their lead to 3-2 when a goal went in at 12:25 of the second period, sandwiched between two Nylander goals. Nylander tied it at 6:53 of the second on a snap shot from Gavin McKenna and Auston Matthews, then restored the tie at 3-3 with 16:47 gone in the period. Easton Cowan put Toronto ahead for good just 46 seconds later, scoring off a Morgan Rielly and Nylander feed to make it 4-3.
Matthews closed it out in the third period with goals at 12:02 and 19:21, the second into an empty net, giving him a three-point night and stretching Toronto’s lead to the final 6-3 margin.
Top Performers
Nylander finished with two goals and three assists for five points, leading all skaters. Matthews added two goals and an assist. Cowan scored once and added an assist, while Rielly and Paul each had two assists.
For Colorado, MacKinnon led with two goals. Devon Toews had one assist. Maple Leafs goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 30 of 33 shots for a .909 save percentage, while Blackwood finished 17-for-22 in a losing effort.
Toronto converted two of four power-play chances for a 50% rate, while Colorado went 0-for-5 on five power-play opportunities despite out-shooting the Maple Leafs 33-23.
What It Means
The win moved Toronto to 3-2-1 on the young season, good for seven points and fourth place in the Atlantic Division. Colorado fell to 3-2-0 with six points, sitting fourth in the Central Division. Toronto also opened a 1-0 edge in the season series between the two clubs.
Toronto out-hit Colorado 22-16 and out-blocked the Avalanche 22-10, physical numbers that matched a game decided largely by special teams and a third-period surge from Matthews. The Maple Leafs have now shown they can win despite being out-shot by 10, a sign that finishing, not volume, carried them on this night.
What’s Next
Both teams return to action with the Atlantic and Central divisions still taking shape early in the 2026-27 season. Toronto plays next on Monday against Nashville.
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