Bozak, Komarov power Leafs past Avs
The official game recap Toronto Maple Leafs vs Colorado Avalanche.Tyler Bozak, who played at the University of Denver, enjoyed a happy homecoming Monday by scoring three third-period goals, and Jake Gardiner had four assists to help the Toronto Maple Leafs defeat the Colorado Avalanche 7-4 at Pepsi Center.
Toronto (12-13-7) ended Colorado's winning streak at five games and is on a 4-0-2 roll. The Maple Leafs are 10-5-5 in 20 games after starting the season with two wins in 12 games under new coach Mike Babcock.
The Maple Leafs, who went 2-for-20 on the power play in the previous seven games, scored on all three man-advantage opportunities, making them 7-for-8 against the Avalanche in two games this season.
Goalie Jonathan Bernier had 23 saves for his second consecutive win after going 0-8-3 in his first 11 decisions.
The Avalanche (17-17-1) fell five points behind the Nashville Predators for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
The Maple Leafs went ahead 4-3 at 0:49 of the third period on Bozak's first goal. James van Riemsdyk passed to him skating into the Avalanche zone for a shot that hit goalie Semyon Varlamov's right pad and dribbled between his legs across the goal line.
Bozak scored again at 6:47 with a backhand on a brekaway after a giveaway by Blake Comeau, and van Riemsdyk deflected in Gardiner's point shot at 10:40.
Bozak completed his hat trick with an empty-net goal with 3:40 remaining in the game. Colorado's Jack Skille answered with his second goal of the game with 2:29 to go.
Erik Johnson tied the game 3-3 for the Avalanche at 18:43 of the second period on a power play with Matt Hunwick off for slashing Nathan MacKinnon. After Colorado went without a shot on each of its first two power plays, Gabriel Landeskog slid the puck across to Johnson in the left circle for a one-timer behind Bernier.
The Maple Leafs grabbed a 3-2 lead at 12:03 of the second period on Leo Komarov's second goal of the game. Peter Holland took a shot from the right point, and Komarov deflected it past Varlamov for his 15th goal.
Varlamov, who was named the NHL's First Star for the week ending Dec. 20, hadn't allowed more than two goals in any of his previous eight games. He made 15 saves Monday.
The Avalanche tied the game 2-2 at 1:07 of the second period. Shortly after Bernier robbed Landeskog in front, Alex Tanguay fed John Mitchell for a backhand into an open net.
The Maple Leafs took a 2-1 lead in the first period on power-play goals from Komarov and Joffrey Lupul 4:08 apart.
The Avalanche opened the scoring on Skille's first goal at 2:27. Skille was alone in front and had time to tee up the puck before shooting.
The Maple Leafs tied the score 1-1 at 13:34 with Colorado's Francois Beauchemin serving a tripping penalty. Komarov used Holland as a screen and beat Varlamov from low in the right circle.
They went ahead at 17:42 after Comeau went to the box for hooking. Gardiner set up Lupul in the slot for his first goal in four games since returning from a lower-body injury that kept him out of the lineup for five games.
-- by Rick Sadowski for NHL.com --
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22/12/2015 - 06:00
