After surprise goalie switch, Toronto Maple Leafs hang 8 goals on Colorado Avalanche
A clash between two of the NHL’s hottest teams turned into a pounding.
Toronto star Auston Matthews’ hat trick overshadowed Nathan MacKinnon’s return after the Colorado forward missed eight games with an injury and the Maple Leafs blasted the Avalanche, 8-3 on Wednesday night at Scotiabank Arena.
In his own return to the city where he spent his entire career prior to joining the Avalanche, Nazem Kadri scored on either end of a 5-goal Toronto onslaught. The Avalanche have dropped two of three after winning six straight games.
Coach Jared Bednar named Darcy Kuemper the starting goaltender but less than an hour before the game, the team announced Kuemper had an upper-body injury and wouldn’t dress against the Maple Leafs (17-6-1). Bednar said he found out shortly after the morning skate.
“I don’t have the sense of how severe it is,” Bednar said.
Goalie Justus Annunen was summoned from the Colorado Eagles (AHL) and rushed to the arena, where he arrived after the game started. In the meantime, University of Toronto goaltender Jett Alexander served as emergency backup, took warmups and likely watched Jonas Johansson closely from the bench during the first period.
Johansson started a second straight game and allowed eight goals on 41 shots. Several were worthy of shared blame, but Travis Dermott’s first of the season 47 seconds after Kadri made it 3-2 was both soft and a momentum killer.
“He wasn’t good,” Bednar said of Johansson.
Samuel Girard scored with just over a second left in the first period after the Avalanche went down 3-0 on goals from William Nylander, Jason Spezza and Matthews. Girard sent a slap shot past Jack Campbell (28 saves) on a pass from MacKinnon (2 assists).
“We were giving up way too many scoring chances from inside their slot,” Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog said. “We know these guys are a really good offensive team and a skilled team that will find those open areas in that slot.
“You’re only as good as you play, and tonight we didn’t play very good. So we’re not a very good hockey team tonight.”
Before Colorado (11-7-1) melted down, the team pulled within a goal. Valeri Nichushkin and Kadri took a whack at a puck in the crease and Nichushkin appeared to propel Kadri’s stick with his own. Kadri, who spent parts of 10 seasons in Toronto, was credited.
Kadri also scored a power-play goal with less than three and a half minutes to play.
Bednar said Kuemper would stay on the road trip, which has four more stops, for now. The coach didn’t commit to whether Annunen, 21, would make his NHL debut Thursday at the Montreal Canadiens. Annunen was the AHL Goaltender of the Month for November.
“I’ll talk to Joe (Sakic) tonight and see what he thinks,” Bednar said. “And talk with our coaching staff. I haven’t got that far yet.”
Note: Kadri was announced as one of the NHL’s “Three Stars” for November on Wednesday. Kadri had an NHL-best 2.1 points per game (4 goals, 17 assists) through 10 games.
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