Avalanche overcome three-goal deficit and shorthanded lineup to defeat Toronto 5-3

For the second straight Saturday, the Avalanche went down by three goals. For the second straight Saturday, they erased the three-goal deficit. But unlike last week, Colorado managed to escape with a victory.

The Avs defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3 at Scotiabank Arena, overcoming a 3-0 deficit in one of the more valiant performances they’ve had all season. Valeri Nichushkin and Miles Wood were both out with an illness, Bowen Byram (lower body) missed his fourth consecutive game and Artturi Lehkonen (neck injury) was out again. But despite the losses — and eventually, an injury to Jack Johnson (lower body) — Colorado still managed to come away with two points on the road.

Toronto scored all of its goals in the first period. Similar to last week’s contest at Ball Arena against Florida, the Avs fell asleep at the wheel early. Defensive breakdowns led to golden opportunities for the opposition and the goaltending was unable to bail them out.

Hours after being named to the NHL All-Star game, Avs goalie Alexandar Georgiev stopped 26-of-29 shots, including all 15 faced in the final 40 minutes to earn the victory. Georgiev leads the NHL with 24 wins but has help on the way ahead of an upcoming back-to-back on the road. Colorado recalled Justus Annunen from the AHL’s Colorado Eagles. He’s set to join the team in Montreal ahead of Monday’s matchup against the Canadiens.

Colorado’s comeback started with a power-play goal from Jonathan Drouin. The third piece of the Avs’ top line, Drouin continued his hot streak to put the Avs within two goals. Several minutes later, Mikko Rantanen got one past goalie Martin Jones to make it a one-goal game.

The Avs trailed 3-2 heading into the third period before eventually knotting things up. And it was all thanks to Toronto native Andrew Cogliano. The 36-year-old fired one past Jones with 12:25 remaining for his fourth of the season. And exactly nine minutes later, superstar forward Nathan MacKinnon gave the Avs the lead.

Colorado later added an empty netter from Ross Colton to put the game away.