The Avalanche managed to gain a point Tuesday night, but they'll be hard-pressed to pile them up unless the offense starts clicking the way it should.
The Avalanche were 35-0-3 when they led after two periods last season and they lost their first game in that situation this year, 3-2 in overtime in Toronto, because they couldn't hold a 2-1 advantage or build on it in the third.
Including the preseason, the Avalanche have played 12 games and failed to produce as many as three goals even once; being awarded a goal for a shootout win against Los Angeles in the final exhibition game doesn't count.
Gabriel Landeskog and Alex Tanguay have yet to collect a point, and Jarome Iginla and Nathan MacKinnon are looking for their first goal.
Ryan O'Reilly and Matt Duchene delivered goals in the first and second periods, respectively, against the Maple Leafs with Iginla collecting an assist on each, but the Avalanche just couldn't get one more puck past goalie James Reimer.
Duchene had a chance to do exactly that early in the third period when he intercepted a Stephane Robidas pass and broke in alone on Reimer, but Robidas managed to get a stick on Duchene and his shot was stopped.
The Leafs tied the game 2-2 on a goal by Joffrey Lupul after a turnover by defenseman Brad Stuart. About a minute earlier, Colorado's Jan Hejda was checked head-first into the boards behind the net. No penalty was called and Hejda, who rarely shows much emotion, was about as angry as I've ever seen him as he made his way to the bench.
It didn't take long for the Leafs to end matters in overtime. Phil Kessel skated down left wing by Tyson Barrie, put on the breaks, then wheeled around the defenseman before sweeping the puck past goalie Semyon Varlamov 34 seconds into the extra period.
Kessel fed James van Riemsdyk for the opening goal at 9:54 of the first period, but O'Reilly tied it at 13:14 after Reimer made a save on Iginla. O'Reilly was at the side of the net when he put in the rebound.
Varlamov, who finished with 37 saves, kept the game tied in the second period with some big stops before Iginla passed to Duchene in the high slot for the goal at 17:40 that gave the Avalanche a 2-1 lead.
The Leafs outshot the Avalanche 16-7 in the second period, 15-5 in the third and they had the only shot in overtime to finish with a 40-24 advantage.
The Avalanche had one shot while going 0-for-3 on power plays and have yet to score a power-play goal. They killed all five of the Leafs' power plays with Varlamov making 11 saves on those.
"The penalties hurt us a little bit and gave them some momentum," coach Patrick Roy said. "Early in the third at 2-1 we had two very good chances, a breakaway by Dutchie and (Dennis) Everberg had a really good chance and could have made it a 3-1 game and certainly would have helped our situation.
"Our first back to back, it's always tough for any team and it showed in the third period. I thought we did a great job on penalty killing. Our power play needs to simplify things, put more pucks at the net and allow Jarome to do a good job in front of the net to pick up rebounds. Other than this, I thought we played a good game. Obviously in the third they had maybe more gas than we had, but overall I thought we played a good game." Now it's on to Ottawa. The Avalanche meet the Senators on Thursday night and close out the trip Saturday in Montreal.