Leafs lose second shootout of the year, fall 2-1 to the Avs
The Toronto Maple Leafs suffered their second loss in a row for the first time since January 14th with a 2-1 shootout loss to the defending champion Colorado Avalanche.
In a great defensive game, Ilya Samsonov and Alexandar Georgiev stole the show with 28 saves for Samsonov and 18 for Georgiev. 19 shots on goal for Toronto this year is a season low.
Both the goals came early with Morgan Rielly scoring just his third goal of the season and first since February 11th.Mitch Marner found the streaking defenceman after his initial pass was blocked. Marner now has nine points in his last four games and ties his total for assists last season with 62. He has 86 points in 67 games.
Mikko Rantanen added on his impressive season with his 43rd goal on the powerplay to tie things up. Cale Makar extends his point streak to six games where he’s tallied 11 points.
The game went scoreless for the next two periods and overtime solved nothing, so the Leafs embarked on their second shootout of the season. William Nylander, Auston Matthews and Marner were all stopped by Georgiev. Nathan MacKinnon floated a shot past Samsonov for the third win a row.
The Leafs grab a point in a close contest and move to 40-18-9 on the year good for 89 points. They currently sit three points up on the third place Tampa Bay Lightning in the Atlantic division.
They stay home to take on the Carolina Hurricanes for their St. Pats game.
TOR Scoring: Rielly (3)
COL Scoring: Rantanen PP (43)