Nichushkin, Avs prove too good for Leafs
TORONTO: Valeri Nichushkin scored a short-handed goal in the third period, lifting the Colorado Avalanche to a 3-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night.
Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist, Joonas Donskoi also scored and Philipp Grubauer stopped 38 shots for the Avalanche.
Zach Hyman scored for Toronto and Frederik Andersen, starting on consecutive nights for the first time since January 2017, had 27 saves.
With his team on the power play, Toronto centre Jason Spezza’s stick shattered on a shot and as he tried to keep the puck in with his feet at the blue line, he got caught up with teammate Morgan Rielly. That allowed Nichushkin to move in all alone and bury his third goal of the season upstairs at 6:40 minutes to put Colorado up 2-1.
Toronto, who had Mitch Marner back after he missed 11 games with a high ankle sprain, pushed as the period wore on and pressed late, but couldn’t get anything past Grubauer with Andersen on the bench before Donskoi iced it into an empty net with 79 seconds left.
Stefan Noesen celebrated his return to the NHL with his first goal of the season and Pittsburgh beat hosts St Louis 3-0 — the Blues’ first regulation loss on the road since before Halloween.
Noesen, a five-year veteran who signed a minor-league deal with the Penguins in the off-season, pounded home a rebound off Jared McCann’s shot with 39 seconds left in the second period for his first goal since last March when he played for New Jersey.
Teddy Blueger scored 39 seconds into the game to give the Penguins the early lead and Alex Galchenyuk got his second of the season early in the third period. Tristan Jarry stopped 28 shots to post his third career shut-out.
Tyler Ennis had a goal and two assists to help visiting Ottawa snap a five-game skid with a 5-2 victory over Edmonton.