DENVER — William Nylander authored a five-point masterpiece and Sergei Bobrovsky secured his first win as a Maple Leaf as the Toronto Maple Leafs weathered a second-period storm at Ball Arena and beat the Colorado Avalanche 6-3 on Saturday night.

Nylander finished with two goals and three assists, tying a career high in points. Auston Matthews added two goals and two assists. Nick Blankenburg scored on his first shift of the season in his first appearance as a Leaf, Easton Cowan scored, and Bobrovsky stopped 30 of 33 shots. Nathan MacKinnon scored twice for Colorado, which lost its first home game of the season.

The Leafs improved to 3-2-1 and collected three of a possible four points on a tough back-to-back western swing against the Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado. They now head into a day off with a statement road victory against a Stanley Cup contender, even as concern lingers over the status of defenseman Chris Tanev, who left the game in the first period and did not return.

“I liked the first (period), and I like the third,” head coach Jim Hiller said. “They had a couple of rush chances in the first, second period got a little crazy, but what a response in the third period. And even after Vegas, we were able to get it done tonight.”

Nylander’s night was defined by more than just the points. Hiller pointed specifically to the work that set up the opening goal, when Blankenburg scored 3:03 into the game on a feed from Nylander and Nick Paul.

“Well, he was skating. I think must have been the first goal. So he makes the nice pass to Blankenburg. Back it up ten seconds. He's in on the forecheck. He wins a puck battle. That sets the whole thing up, and then he's allowed to get the opportunity to make the next play because he made the first one. Skating on the forecheck, winning a battle,” Hiller said.

Nylander later scored a power-play goal at 6:53 of the second on a setup from Gavin McKenna and Matthews, then tied the game at 16:47 of the second. His three assists tied a career high in a game. Matthews, who scored the eventual game-winner on the power play in the third and added an empty-netter, was effusive.

“Yeah, he was great. I mean, I thought he was just skating all over the puck, making plays. You know, beautiful pass on that power play to me, and he was just all over it tonight. One of those games where it just seemed like he had the puck on his stick a lot, and he was making things happen,” Matthews said.

Nylander himself kept it simple: 

“I don't know. I was just going out there playing, you know. I got some really nice passes. Able to score those two goals. I think the power play was great.”

Bobrovsky faced 33 shots, including 13 in the second period when the game turned chaotic. Colorado outshot Toronto 33-23 overall and held a territorial edge for long stretches, particularly at even strength in the middle frame. Yet Bobrovsky, who had been left without a win despite strong showings earlier in the trip, delivered the performance the Leafs needed.

“Those last two games, a lot of work for him, and I guess that's just classic Bob, right? That's why he's here. He just has a way to settle everybody down. Such a calm demeanor, and he made some great saves,” Hiller said.

Matthews noted the team’s early-season struggles in front of the netminder: 

“We haven't been good enough in front of him in his first couple of starts, and he's had to come up big and hasn't gotten rewarded for it. So, I mean, I would have loved to see him get a win earlier, but obviously coming into this building against this opponent, he was huge for us tonight.”

The starting goaltender was a question given Bobrovsky’s 40-save performance in a shootout loss against the Golden Knights on Thursday. But Bobrovsky, who has a reputation for wanting to have the net, doesn’t mind being busy.

“I like it. I like the workload. I do like it. It's been great,” Bobrovsky said. “I had a good amount of work in Vegas, and I really feel good. Playing is fun in the NHL. You live in a dream. So every day is a paradise to be in this league.”

Chris Tanev left the game and did not return. Hiller had no immediate update.

“We had lots going on here, so I haven't talked to really anybody about him. And we'll probably know more tomorrow or the next day. Tomorrow's a day off (Sunday), so maybe a couple days,” the coach said.

Tanev was seen around the locker room after the game talking to teammates but there was very little to extrapolate from that. 

Blankenburg, who played more than expected in his season debut, described Tanev as “kind of the anchor of the back end for those first couple games, just shut down defensively, him and (McCabe).”

Given Tanev’s injury history, the uncertainty will dominate the immediate aftermath in Toronto. Hiller praised the remaining defensemen for bending but not breaking: 

“I thought that D corps battled. It was tough in D zone at times, but those guys did a really good job, just bending but not breaking.”

Blankenburg, returning against his former club, scored 3:03 into the game on his first shift of the season. Nylander set him up after winning a puck battle on the forecheck.

“I think obviously the first time you get into a game in the year, you're a little bit nervous, but I think it's a good kind of nervous, like excited. So to get one there in the first shift definitely felt nice,” Blankenburg said. “I kind of took a weight off my shoulders and just kind of go all time and play.”

He acknowledged the wait had been familiar:

“I've done this so many times before in my career. I feel like every year in my four-year career so far, it's been like out of the lineup, wait. ... I just kept telling myself leading up to this, like, I've been in this situation before, and every time I've been able to handle it.”

His teammates were thrilled.

“Blank’s the man,” Matthews said, praising the first-year Leaf’s vibe in the room, as well as his personality and work ethic.

“He roofed that thing. That was how many seconds into his first shift? Was it his first shift? That's awesome,” Nylander said with a big grin.

With John Tavares not available after becoming a father for the fourth time, 18-year-old Gavin McKenna earned time on the top power-play unit and delivered the setup on Nylander’s power-play goal. Both Matthews and Nylander highlighted his vision.

“Yeah, it's pretty seamless. I mean, he's elite, super skilled and smart, and made a beautiful play there on the first power play goal to Willy,” Matthews said. “He just has such a good IQ and can see the play kind of developing before it happens.”

Nylander called the pass “unbelievable.” 

Hiller noted McKenna’s progression against elite competition on consecutive nights: 

“Just seems to be every game he's taking steps. Just play Vegas and Colorado, and you're a young guy at 18 years old to play those two games back to back. It's pretty impressive. And he's dynamic.”

Toward the end of the game, McKenna had been promoted to the top line for some shifts.

“He's playing good. You know what I mean? We're not just giving that to him. He's earned that.”

MacKinnon scored twice in the first period and finished with eight shots. Matthews described the challenge directly: 

“He's one of the best in the world. It's always a really tough, tough challenge. I mean, he's a really hard guy to contain. He's explosive. He possesses so much power when he skates and when he moves. And when he's on the ice, you've got to have a bit of a group effort to kind of contain him because he's too good one-on-one.”

Hiller adjusted in the third by matching the checking line of Colton Sissons, Teddy Blueger, and Brandon Duhaime against Colorado’s top unit at five-on-five.

“Well, in the third period, we really tried to get (Colton) Sissons, (Teddy) Blueger and (Brandon) Duhaime against them. So, if you check that, I think we got, outside of the power plays and stuff, we really were able to five-on-five match them up and get our matchup. And I thought those three in particular did a great job in the third period,” Hiller said.

Blankenburg credited Bobrovsky first when asked about limiting MacKinnon: 

“I mean, I'd say first thought would just be Bob (Bobrovsky). Bob's been great for us all year. I think, yeah, just obviously he's such a special player just trying to limit his time and space.”

The three points from the Vegas-Colorado swing give Hiller’s group early validation against two Western Conference heavyweights. The Leafs alternated wins and losses to open the season and now sit with a road win in Denver that required goaltending, special teams, and a composed final period after the second-period mess.

“I thought we did a good job weathering the storm,” Matthews said. “Sometimes you've just got to weather the storm, bend, don't break. Just grind out a win, and I thought we did that tonight.”

See more of The Hockey News on Google — Save us as Preferred Source

For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.