Avalanche Bring Winning Streak To 10 as Maple Leafs Lose 5 In A Row

The Colorado Avalanche saw their winning streak increase to ten last night with their win against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The same game saw the Leafs increase their losing streak to five in a row and another dismal performance by the beleaguered team.

The crowd at the A.C.C made sure to let Jonathan Bernier, Colorado’s goaltender know which team they supported. The goaltender recalled hearing Leaf fans banter when playing for the team in 2015/201.

Said Bernier,

“It’s not as bad when you are the away team.”

This was his first appearance playing in Toronto since being traded. Bernier has a successful night with twenty-nine saves and helped the Avalanche in their 4-2 victory and winning streak extension.

At the age of 29, Bernier, who hails from Laval, Quebec, replaced the injured Semyon Varlamov, is seeing his own winning streak of nine games. For Bernier, the success is sweet as he struggled while playing for the Leafs due to the team rebuilding. Leaf fans were merciless and his lack of success in Toronto saw a return to the ALH to help with conditioning.

Commenting, Bernier said,

“That’s one of those games you look on the calendar and want to play and want to win. It’s mixed feelings, I had some great memories and bad memories here. I wanted to make sure I brought my A game and gave my team a chance to win.”

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Colorado’s Blake Comeau scored the go-ahead goal after he intercepted a pass from Carl Soderberg and beat Austin Matthews to the net and shot the puck past Frederik Andersen and put the Avalanche in the lead for good.

Austin Matthews felt the Leafs did well, despite the loss stating,

“Couple minor mistakes and they capitalized on them. Pretty good game by us but they’re a hot team and capitalized.”

Colorado’s Gabriel Bourque was first to put the puck into the net only 2:19 into the first period. In the right place, he scored after collecting a rebounded shot by Tyson Barrie off Frederick Andersen. Less than 20 seconds later, Toronto tied the game thanks to Patrick Marleau.

Matthews scored what he thought would give the Leafs the lead only to have Colorado challenge the goal claiming interference with the goaltender which was overturned. Not impressed by the decision, Mike Babcock, Toronto’s Head Coach stated,

Said Babcock,

“I’ve got texts from half the coaches telling me that should be a goal, so if the coaches don’t know, we don’t know, but I’m not worried about that.”

On his next shift, Matthews came out with a vengeance, scored and displayed a rare moment of emotion by pointing towards the net as if acting he was an official alerting to the goal.

Said Matthews,

Just made sure the puck was in this time, was pretty excited about that one.”

The Matthews goal gave Toronto the lead, a first in ten games where the Avalanche did not have the lead. It gave Toronto fans hope the winning streak would come to an end, however, a mere 90 seconds later, Nail Yakupov tied the game.

Colorado Coach, Jared Bednar commented saying,

“That’s one of the things I’m happy about. We fall behind, Toronto started to get some juice and we were able to respond and answer back. I think it shows we’re maturing as a group.”

Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon, who the NHL named at its star of the week for his four goals and six points during the Avalanche’s last three games saw his streak come to an end as the Leafs managed to keep his line at bay until an empty net goal by Gabriel Landeskog.

Commenting on the line, Bednar said,

“Another good indication of what I liked. They might not have had the best night offensively but we still found a way with our other lines to get the job done.”

Prior to the game, Toronto announced that Morgan Rielly has been added to the injured list and would not be suiting up as a result to an injury to his upper body when the Leafs were in Philadelphia.

Speaking about Rielly’s injury, Babcock stated,

“We don’t think it’s real serious, but it’s serious enough he isn’t playing.”

With the Avalanche on a 10 game winning streak, it is a perfect time for punters to get their bets in for this Thursday’s game when they face the St Louis Blues. Toronto, on a five game losing streak, will face Chicago on Wednesday night.