Leafs rally, sink Avalanche for 7th straight win

Tyler Bertuzzi scored three goals, including the go-ahead marker late in the third period, and the surging Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-3 in Denver on Saturday night.

William Nylander had three assists, Mitch Marner had a goal and an assist and Ilya Samsonov had 26 saves for Toronto, which won its seven straight despite Auston Matthews being held without a goal for the first time in six games.

Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist, Andrew Cogliano and Arturri Lehkonen also scored and Nathan MacKinnon had three assists for Colorado. Alexandar Georgiev turned away 26 shots for the Avalanche.

MacKinnon has at least one point in all 28 home games and tied Wayne Gretzky for the sixth-longest home point streak in NHL history.

The game was tied when Rantanen took a delay of game minor and Bertuzzi scored at 17:09 of the third to notch his third career hat trick. It was his 10th goal of the season.

Colorado cashed in on an early power play when Lehkonen deflected a pass from MacKinnon by Samsonov at 2:16 of the first period. It was his eighth goal of the season.

Cogliano gave the Avalanche a 2-0 lead later in the first when he got a pass from MacKinnon and beat Samsonov over his left shoulder at 11:07, his fifth of the season.

Toronto started its comeback with a power-play goal less than three minutes later. With Ross Colton off for interference, the Maple Leafs worked the puck around the offensive zone, Marner fed Bertuzzi on the right side of the net, and he wristed it in at 13:42.

Toronto struck twice in the second period to grab the lead. Bertuzzi got his second at 14:45 and Marner gave the Maple Leafs a 3-2 lead when his shot from the point got through traffic and by Georgiev at 16:48. It was his 23rd of the season.

The Avalanche tied it in the third on Rantanen's wrister from the top of the slot that beat Samsonov at 4:41. It was his 30th of the season.

—Field Level Media