DENVER, Colo. — As the Colorado Avalanche faithful quietly filed out of Ball Arena, the scoreboard frozen with 1:01 remaining on the clock and an ultra-rare losing count for the home team illuminated on the Jumbotron, the visitors’ room pumped as loud as a nightclub.
The Toronto Maple Leafs — snappers of the Avs’ ridiculous 17-game win streak in this barn and architects of a 10-game point streak of their own — joyously clapped along to their victory anthem, “Come On Eileen,” then sang along to Oasis’s “Wonderwall,” the unofficial anthem of their starting goaltender, as the tunes belted out from their powerful travel speaker.
“I like our post-win songs right now,” smiled Joseph Woll, coming out on the happy end of a 4-3 overtime banger. “So, keep rolling with those.”
Oh, these Maple Leafs are rollin’ all right.
Not only did the Leafs become just the third road team to win a decision in Denver, home of the NHL’s best club, but they became the first team to beat the Avalanche in Colorado before the shootout and now find themselves back in a playoff position for the first time since Nov. 7.
Prior to puck drop, captain Auston Matthews declared the showdown against the NHL’s only 30-win juggernaut “a great measuring stick,” then went out and stood tall against multi-point efforts from Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, and Martin Necas.
“Our guys rose up to the occasion,” head coach Craig Berube, who has flipped from hot seat to hot streak.
“That’s important. And it shows that we can compete with anybody in the league if we play the right way and do the right things.”
Don’t get it twisted: The Avalanche, sporting their slick Quebec Nordiques throwbacks, played with pep. Jared Bednar’s speedy group is frightening on the power play and in transition, and can seam a pass like no one’s business. They earned an 11-3 even-strength advantage in high-danger chances and came within a pinged crossbar of extending their streak to 18.
But the Maple Leafs hung in on a night where they went down a body early and lost the special-teams battle.
They shortened shifts, managed the puck smartly, and moved their feet. They rolled four lines, took advantage of their prime looks, and got showtime contributions from their game-breakers.
“We competed hard,” Matthews said. “Everybody really dug in deep tonight, and we were able to pull this one out, which is huge.”
A busy and outshot Woll made 31 stops. William Nylander added to his franchise overtime goals record. And Matthews unleashed a vintage pull-and-snap wrister while skating a season-high 25:29 against the toughest matchup going.
“He’s getting his looks every game now,” Berube said. “It’s the skating and demanding the puck.”
Toppling the Avalanche in their own home, on their own time, is an exclamation point on a statement the Maple Leafs have been scripting since Christmas.
Matthews says the team deserved to hold their heads high touching down in Denver because of how they had sharpened their game over the past three weeks. Their defence has tightened. Their offence is sustained. Their special teams have soared. And their goaltending is a difference-maker.
“They’re on a roll right now,” Makar acknowledged.
The timing for getting into the ring with a heavyweight couldn’t have been better for Toronto.
“They’re playing their best hockey of the year,” echoed Bednar. “They’re scoring more than they have in their recent past. Defending well.”
As the victory tunes kept blaring from Toronto’s room, Matthews said that it’s irrelevant if the Maple Leafs are facing the No. 1 team or an opponent that has won 17 straight at home.
“It’s just the belief and confidence that you can go into any rink, no matter the situation, and play a complete game and come out with two points,” Matthews said. “That’s really the bottom line. I mean, it wasn’t about anything else tonight except all 20 guys going out there and competing and doing what we could to come out with two points.”
Momentum is a helluva drug.
“We know we have a really deep team,” Woll said. “We have some great star players as well. So, I think we’re built to be a great team.”
Time will tell.
But one thing is for certain: They just beat a great team — and are flying a mile high en route to Utah Tuesday.
“It’s hard to mimic playoff hockey during regular season, but it was definitely a step up and more intense, the way they skate, how fast they play,” Bobby McMann said. “It’s definitely a bit higher of a level, and we had to be ready.
“We can ride that momentum.”
Fox’s Fast Five
• Nick Robertson needed help off the ice after blocking a Josh Manson shot off the inside of his left leg in the first period and never returned.
Berube had no update on Robertson’s status post-game, but the player was walking around fine in his street clothes after the final buzzer.
Calle Järnkrok, the only extra forward on the trip, is next man up.
Robertson’s injury did open extra shifts for fourth-liner McMann, who ripped a game-high six shots.
“He could play anywhere and does the job,” Berube said. “Defensively, he was outstanding with his stick, and his speed broke some plays up. But overall, he had a really good game.”
• One of the most entertaining and star-studded games of the season.
And yet, with the puck dropping after 8 p.m. local (10 p.m. in Toronto) on a Monday, you wonder how many kids got to stay up. Or adults, for that matter.
“A 10 p.m. start time is always fun,” chuckled Woll, who adjusted nicely. “We’re all pros, so we take care of our bodies and hopefully set us up for success. So, hammering the beets and the iron and everything I can. My body felt good and great to get the win.”
• When the opposing team commits a two-minute infraction at Ball Arena, Avalanche game ops blasts the Kendrick Lamar punchline “It’s probably a minor!” from “Not Like Us” over the loudspeakers.
Simple. Brilliant.
• Altitude ain’t got nothin’ on McMann. Watch the fastest Maple Leaf outrun the fastest team in the West…
“He’s so explosive,” Matthews said. “You could just see on his goal. I mean, once he gets a step, he’s hard to pick up.”
• Scott Laughton told a fun prank story on Spittin’ Chiclets about how a Leafs teammate poured cement in his shoes as a game-day prank… but later replaced them with a fresh set.
“He does have a really nice pair of shoes on,” a smirking Domi allowed in a team interview Monday. “That’s all I’ll say.”
