Valeri Nichushkin had three goals for his first career regular-season hat trick, Nathan MacKinnon had two goals to reach 100 points for the season, and the Colorado Avalanche rallied in the third period to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-4 in Denver on Saturday night.
Joel Kiviranta and Jonathan Drouin also had goals, Ross Colton and Sam Malinski finished with two assists each and Mackenzie Blackwood made 17 saves for Colorado.
The Avalanche went on the power play at 13:59 of the third and MacKinnon cashed it in at 15:45. Toronto goaltender Anthony Stolarz went off for an extra skater and Nichushkin completed his hat trick at 18:06.
Nichushkin also has a postseason hat trick. He then assisted on MacKinnon’s empty-net goal at 19:07, which was his 999th career point.
Mitch Marner and John Tavares scored two goals apiece, Auston Matthews had three assists, William Nylander contributed two assists and Stolarz turned away 27 shots for the Maple Leafs, who have dropped three in a row.
Both teams featured players making their debuts following a flurry of deals at the trade deadline. Defenseman Brandon Carlo logged a team-high 22:04 of ice time for Toronto and his former Boston teammate Charlie Coyle centered the Avalanche’s third line.
Coyle and Brock Nelson had an assist each in their first game with Colorado.
Nichushkin gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead when he tipped Ryan Lindgren’s shot by Stolarz just 56 seconds in. The Maple Leafs answered at 3:04 with Marner’s first of the game, and 3:04 later Nichushkin scored off a feed from Nelson to put Colorado ahead 2-1.
Toronto rallied to take the lead. Tavares tied it when he scored in the slot on a delayed penalty at 12:51 and Marner’s second of the night made it 3-2 at 16:04.
Tavares scored on the power play at 12:45 and Kiviranta’s goal off his left skate made it 4-3 at 15:11 of the second.
Colorado got the equalizer when Coyle fed Drouin in the slot for a one-timer at 11:55 of the third.
–Field Level Media
