, and seven straight in regulation on the road. Semyon Varlamov stopped 17 shots for the Avalanche. Igor Ozhiganov, Kasperi Kapanen and Mitch Marner scored for Toronto. Frederik Andersen made 32 saves in his return to the starting lineup after missing eight games with a groin injury. Auston Matthews added two assists. Toronto, which entered play two points up on the Boston Bruins for second in the Atlantic Division, has lost five of its last seven games and four of five at home. Soderberg scored his second goal of the game with 8:15 left in the third period and added an empty net goal. Soderberg broke a 3-3 tie midway through the third when he snapped his 14th goal of the season past Andersen off a pass from J. T. Compher after Colin Wilson won a battle behind Toronto's net. Toronto, which went 4-4-0 without Andersen, pulled its goalie with just under three minutes to go, but Calvert beat Matthews to a loose puck in the Colorado zone and banked a shot off the boards for his seventh of the season with 2:51 left. Soderberg completed the hat trick by scoring into an empty net at 18:12. With some of the fans at Scotiabank Arena booing Leafs defenseman Jake Gardiner every time he touched the puck after a soft play led directly to Soderberg's short-handed score in the second period to make it 3-2 for the visitors, Marner tied the game six minutes into the third. The winger took a pass from Travis Dermott and ripped his 18th goal of the season and third in as many games past Varlamov's glove. After a scoreless first, the middle period featured five goals, and another that was disallowed. Ozhiganov scored his third at 2:14 with a shot from the point through a screen fooled Varlamov. Leafs winger Par Lindholm appeared to score at 3:32, but the goal was called back after Colorado challenged for offside. Toronto went right back to work and scored 11 seconds after play resumed - four seconds in game time before the puck entered the net on Lindholm's effort - when Kapanen snapped a seven-game drought with his 15th. Landeskog tipped home his 28th at 6:33 off a point shot from Tyson Barrie. Andersen did well to stop MacKinnon on a partial breakaway and Wilson's quick backhand, but could do nothing when Rantanen stripped Nazem Kadri in the Toronto zone and scored his 21st at 9:56. Soderberg then made it 3-2 on his 13th with 5:31 left in the second when he outmuscled Gardiner for the puck late in a Toronto power play before chipping a shot past Andersen's blocker. With their No. 1 goalie back in the crease, the Leafs played their best lineup - except for injured fourth-line winger Tyler Ennis (broken ankle) - for just the fifth time this season. After Andersen had to be sharp on a couple Colorado chances as Toronto barely touched the puck in the game's first two minutes, the Leafs had great looks on a power play. NOTES: Andersen had originally targeted Saturday's home game against Boston, only to be cut down by a flu bug. ... Leafs backup Garret Sparks, meanwhile, was back on the bench following five games out with a concussion. ... Michael Hutchinson, who started the last five outings for Toronto on an emergency basis with both Andersen and Sparks sidelined, was loaned to the AHL Marlies. ... Colorado's top line of Rantanen, Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon came in with 185 points on the season. Rantanen and MacKinnon ranked second and fifth in league scoring, respectively, while Landeskog was 19th. UP NEXTAvalanche: Wraps up a five-game trip through Canada in Ottawa on Wednesday. Maple Leafs: Visit Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.---More NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
Time: 7:00 PM EST Venue: Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, Ont., Canada, M5J 2X2 / When the Colorado Avalanche and Toronto Maple Leafs meet Monday night, it will be a contest of two teams looking to turn around their recent fortunes. The Avalanche have lost the first three games of their five-game Canadian road swing. The Maple Leafs have lost four of their past five home games, two by shutout. And at this stage of the season, every game counts for teams with playoff aspirations. For the Avalanche, the key to success will be to find the net again. They lost 3-0 Saturday to the Montreal Canadiens, who scored three goals in the third period." Each team had a flurry here and there for the first two periods," Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said. "I don't think we were good enough with the puck to create the chances that we needed to win the hockey game. You've got to score goals if you're going to win." The Avalanche, who are 1-7-2 in their past 10 games, could be facing Toronto's No. 1 goaltender, Frederik Andersen, who has not played since Dec. 22, a span of eight games, because of a groin injury. Andersen said he could have returned Saturday -- a 3-2 loss to the Boston Bruins -- but came down with the flu. Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said Sunday he did not know who would be in goal." I don't know who is starting (Monday)," Babcock said. "I have not talked to the trainers." Andersen was at practice Sunday -- he did not practice Saturday -- as was backup Garret Sparks, who has been out with a concussion, and Michael Hutchinson, who has started the past five games (2-3-0 with a shutout)." I definitely feel ready to go," Andersen said. Sparks said he also is ready to return. The Canadiens effectively stifled Colorado's top line of Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen on Saturday. The Avalanche had four power-play situations, and they allowed a short-handed goal." Our power play kind of struggled," Bednar said. "I thought Montreal did a really nice job of disrupting our rhythm and we didn't set up like we normally do. We kind of struggled through that." "We've got to find a way out of this because no one is going to feel sorry for us," Colorado defenseman Mark Barberio said. "Dig down and find ways to win hockey games." Barberio and center Colin Wilson returned to the lineup after missing time with lower-body injuries. Barberio had been out since Nov. 28 and Wilson had been out since Dec. 21. The Maple Leafs, meanwhile, lost the four-game season series to the rival Bruins 3-1 after the defeat on Saturday. They failed to hold a 2-1 second-period lead against the Bruins." Obviously, we made a couple of mistakes in D-zone, but I liked our game, to be honest with you," Babcock said. "I thought we had a good opportunity, I thought (Boston goaltender Tuukka) Rask was really good -- in particular in the second period, we had three unbelievable Grade-A chances and he held his ground. In the end, that's the difference in the game." "I think we just leave knowing we did the right things," said right winger Mitch Marner, who scored a goal for Toronto. "Like I said, mistakes are going to happen. They capitalized on them when they had them. We know what we need to fix and we'll do that (Sunday), we'll talk about it (Sunday). I thought we played the game we wanted to. We had pucks to the net, just not the result." --Field Level Media
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