TORONTO — Sheldon Keefe has coached one of the best groups of star players in the NHL with the Maple Leafs for five seasons.
Keefe coached against the best Saturday night, and they put on a show in the Avalanche’s remarkable 5-3 comeback victory from three goals down. If this game was a title fight between two superstar-laden cores, the ones in the visiting jerseys delivered a knockout.
“When (Nathan) MacKinnon’s line gets out there with (Cale) Makar and (Devon) Toews, the caliber of play, like that’s not the NHL,” Keefe said. “That’s another league.”
Keefe used his hand as a visual. He wasn’t talking about a lower level.
MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Jonathan Drouin each had a goal and an assist. Drouin scored the first goal. Rantanen had the second.
All three players combined for the game-winner late in the third period. MacKinnon started the rush with a pass to Drouin. He carried the puck into the offensive zone and dropped it for Rantanen, who sent it across the ice to MacKinnon.
Instead of shooting, MacKinnon collected it and waited for Toronto defenseman Jake McCabe to slide by before snapping a wrist shot off his back foot.
“They were pretty consistent throughout the course of the game,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “I thought they had some really good opportunities to score (early) and just couldn’t find the back of the net. I think that their forecheck really came on as the game went on. They came up with some pucks, created some turnovers — a connected group. Eventually, if they keep playing as hard as they did, they’re going to get rewarded. Mac comes up with a huge goal there.”
It wasn’t just that they combined for three goals. The Avs’ top line has played a ton of minutes for much of this season, but Valeri Nichushkin joined the list of unavailable players with an illness on Saturday. Nichushkin has also been outstanding this season with 22 goals and 42 points in 40 games.
Without Nichushkin and Artturi Lehkonen (neck), the Avs were short two of their top four forwards. Drouin has helped fill the gaps and been a huge bargain as an offseason addition, and he’s now up to 16 points in his past 15 games.
When MacKinnon, Rantanen and Drouin were on the ice, Colorado dominated. The scoring chances were 19-5 at 5-on-5, according to Natural Stat Trick. The Toronto lines that included Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander allowed 13 scoring chances and created six.
Colorado had a 4-1 advantage in power plays, so the overall numbers were even more skewed.
“That top group, that’s … they’re big time,” Keefe said. “Even when they’re shorthanded, those guys are driving everything. They’re tilting the ice in their favor. We weren’t able to manage that well enough and we were not able to get the fourth goal. As much as you’re up 3-0, that’s not a comfortable lead against that team. You know they can score and they had the puck as much as they did in the first period, I knew our game had to get better.”
Toronto’s core of four high-end, expensive forwards leads the NHL in percentage of the salary cap used and oxygen consumed by pundits discussing whether or not the Maple Leafs can win the Stanley Cup while devoting more than $40 million to those four.
Matthews, Marner and Nylander are all world-class players. John Tavares has been, and is the club’s captain.
Against the Avs, that quartet combined for no points and seven shots on goal. Keefe called out Nylander and Tavares’ line in particular, eventually moving Nylander to play with Matthews and Marner.
“If you’re going to win this game and compete against that team, especially when they’re shorthanded like they are with the injuries such that they have, you’ve got to be even or better on special teams,” Keefe said. “And you have to be even or better against their best players. If you let their power play give them an advantage, and if their best players outplay yours, you’re in tough. You’re not going to beat that team.”
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