Soderberg hat trick spells trouble for Leafs
TORONTO — The Maple Leafs talked ahead of Monday’s game about how matching a reeling opponent’s desperation level would be crucial. They didn’t come close. Carl Soderberg scored his second goal of the night with 8:15 left in the third period to snap a 3-3 tie before adding another into an empty net to complete his firstcareer hat trick as the Colorado Avalanche defeated sloppy, disinterested Toronto 6-3.
“We’ve only got ourselves to blame,” Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said. “This is not good enough.”
Toronto, which sits just one point up on the Boston Bruins for second in the Atlantic Division with a game in hand, has now lost five of its last seven and four of five at home.
“Everyone is getting better and we’ve hit a lull,” Babcock said. “We’ve got to get turned.”
Gabriel Landeskog, Mikko Rantanen and Matt Calvert, into an empty net of his own, had the other goals for Colorado (21-17-8), which had lost nine of its last 10 overall (1-7-2) and seven straight in regulation on the road.
Semyon Varlamov stopped 17 shots for the Avalanche.
“We were going tonight,” Soderberg said. “I’m glad we could get a win.”
Colorado’s top line of Rantanen, Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon now have an eye-popping 187 points on the season.
“Everybody did their job,” Landeskog said. “Good overall team victory.”
Igor Ozhiganov, Kasperi Kapanen and Mitch Marner replied for Toronto (28-15-2). Frederik Andersen made 32 saves in his return to the starting lineup after eight games on the sidelines with a groin injury. Auston Matthews added two assists.
Leafs defenceman Jake Gardiner — the target of varying degrees of fan angst during his eight seasons in Toronto — was booed by a portion of the crowd inside a frustrated Scotiabank Arena after a mistake late in a second-period power play led to Soderberg’s first of the night.
“Hasn’t happened before, that’s for sure,” said an emotional Gardiner. “Not something you want to hear, but plays happen in the game ... fans are passionate and they want to win.”
Marner said he didn’t hear the jeers, but was disappointed when asked for his reaction.
“[The] guy does everything for this team,” he said. “People don’t give him enough credit, ever. He makes a lot of stuff happen.
“That guy means a lot to this team.”
Soderberg broke that 3-3 tie midway through the third when he fired his 14th of the season past Andersen off a pass from J.T. Compher after Colin Wilson won a battle behind the net.
Toronto, which went 4-4-0 without Andersen, pulled the goalie with just under three minutes to go, but Calvert beat Matthews to a loose puck in the Colorado zone and banked in his seventh with 2:51 left.
Soderberg completed the hat trick into another empty net at 18:12.
“We just didn’t win enough races, enough puck battles,” Leafs centre John Tavares said. “It starts with guys like myself, we have to do a better job consistently.”
Down 3-2 after two periods, Marner tied the game six minutes into the third when he took a stretch pass from Travis Dermott and ripped his 18th, and third goal in as many games, past Varlamov’s glove to briefly give the Leafs some life.
“I don’t think we played a good game tonight at all,” Marner said. “We didn’t come ready to work.” BOSTON — Somewhere along the way, Canadiens defenceman Jeff Petry must have learned a little baseball, too.
The son of major league pitcher Dan Petry scored the game-winner just 15 seconds into overtime on Monday night, batting the puck out of the air and past Tuukka Rask to give Montreal a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins.
“That bloodline of Jeff Petry in the baseball world,” Canadiens coach Claude Julien said with a smile, “he showed his talent on that goal.”
Carey Price stopped 41 shots for the Canadiens, but he allowed David Krejci’s 6-on-4 goal with 38 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime. Once there, Montreal didn’t need a lot of time to regain the lead.
Paul Byron scored a shorthanded goal, and Brendan Gallagher also scored to help Montreal earn its third victory in four tries. EDMONTON — Milan Lucic and Zack Kassian each scored a pair of goals as the Edmonton Oilers came away with a 7-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl also scored for the Oilers (22-21-3), who have won two of their last three.
Casey Mittelstadt and Evan Rodrigues replied for the Sabres (23-17-6), who have lost three straight.