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It was not so long ago that fans and media critics wondered when Randy Carlyle would be dismissed, after losing four straight games and dropping out of a playoff position in the Eastern Conference standings, but that chatter has been all but silenced as the Maple Leafs vaulted to an early lead and held off a late rally in a 5-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday.
Phil Kessel had two goals, James van Riemsdyk, Nazem Kadri and Jay McClement added singles for Toronto, while rookie Nathan MacKinnon scored twice for Colorado.
James Reimer made 35 saves in the victory and evens the Leafs road record on the season at .500 (10-10-4) after regulation wins in Boston, Phoenix and Colorado.
The win was Toronto’s sixth straight victory and has them tied with the Montreal Canadiens for third place in the Atlantic Division (Montreal has three games in hand)
Just as they did in Glendale on Monday, Toronto jumped out to a first period lead, as Kessel used his superior skating ability to beat the Avalanche defenders to a potential icing call and fired a wrist shot past goalie Semyon Varlamov for the opening goal and linemate van Riemsdyk tipped in a Cody Franson point shot on the power play.
The Leafs extended their lead early in the middle frame, as Jake Gardiner fired a shot through a maze of players which deflected off of Kadri for his 13th goal of the season and second in as many games after going 11 straight without a goal.
Colorado coach Patrick Roy pulled Varlamov after allowing three goals on 10 shots in favor of veteran backup Jean-Sebastien Giguere. Kessel greeted the former Leaf netminder with his club leading 26th goal of the season to give Toronto a 4-0 lead.
After showing little life for most of the game, Colorado got a spark late in the second, as likely Calder Trophy candidate MacKinnon converted on an odd-man break to make it 4-1.
The Avalanche used MacKinnon’s late goal as impetus for the third period, as they outshot Toronto 17-7 and narrowed the lead to 4-2 with the 2013 first overall pick scoring his 16th of the season, but Reimer made a number of key stops in his best performance in over a month.
Roy pulled Giguere with nearly three minutes left in regulation to try to draw closer, but former Avs forward McClement scored on the empty net to ice away the victory.
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