Soderberg scores first career hat trick, Colorado downs Leafs

TORONTO — Carl Soderberg scored his second goal of the night with 8:15 left in the third period before adding a third into an empty net to complete his first career hat trick as the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-3, in National Hockey League action Monday night.

Gabriel Landeskog, Mikko Rantanen and Matt Calvert, into an empty net, had the other goals for Colorado (21-17-8), which had lost nine of its past 10 games overall (1-7-2) and seven straight in regulation on the road.

Semyon Varlamov stopped 17 shots for the Avalanche.

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.

Toronto, which entered play two points up on the Boston Bruins for second in the Atlantic Division, has lost five of its past seven games and four of five at home. The Bruins picked up one point, losing 3-2 in overtime to the Montreal Canadiens in Boston.

Colorado’s top line of Rantanen, Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon came in with an eye-popping 185 points on the season. Rantanen and MacKinnon ranked second and fifth in league scoring, respectively, while Landeskog was 19th. 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 his seventh off the boards and in with 2:51 left.

Soderberg completed the hat trick into another empty net at 18:12.

With some of the fans at Scotiabank Arena booing Leafs defenceman Jake Gardiner every time he touched the puck after a soft play led directly to Soderberg’s short-handed effort 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 stretch 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 offensive floodgates opened in a middle period that featured five goals and another that was disallowed.

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 on the shelf with a concussion . ... Michael Hutchinson, who started the past five outings for Toronto on an emergency basis with both Andersen and Sparks sidelined, was loaned to the American Hockey League’s Toronto Marlies . ... Toronto visits the Tampa Bay Lightning, who are running away with the Atlantic, on Thursday before visiting the Florida Panthers on Friday . ... Colorado wraps up its five-game road trip through Canada on Wednesday in Ottawa against the Senators.