Compher's OT goal lifts Avalanche past Leafs
DENVER -- J.T. Compher scored 3:25 into overtime and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 on Friday night.
Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and two assists, Mikko Rantanen and Alexander Kerfoot also scored for the Avalanche, who got the winner on the power play.
MacKinnon drew an interference call on Connor Brown with 3:27 left and the Avalanche controlled the puck for nearly two minutes. Compher walked in and beat Pickard with a snap shot.
Nikita Zadorov had two assists and Semyon Varlamov stopped 31 shots for Colorado (18-16-3).
James Van Riemsdyk, Matt Martin and Roman Polak scored Toronto's goals and Calvin Pickard had 24 saves against his former team. Polak added an assist.
The Maple Leafs are 2-1-1 on their season-long five-game road trip that ends Sunday in Las Vegas against the Golden Knights.
Colorado took one-goal leads in the first and second periods, but each time Toronto responded with quick answers.
The Maple Leafs (23-14-2) didn't have a quick answer for Kerfoot's goal early in the third.
After Kerfoot gave Colorado a 3-2 lead, Toronto pressed for the tying goal. Pickard came off for an extra skater with 2:45 left and Van Riemsdyk tied it at 18:05.
Varlamov made a big save on William Nylander's point-blank shot from the slot late in the third. He also stopped Auston Matthews and Tyler Bozak on quality chances in the period.
The Avalanche grabbed a 1-0 lead when MacKinnon picked up a rebound and beat Pickard with a backhand to score his 16th of the season at 11:24 of the first.
Toronto tied it later in the period when Martin's centering puck from the backboards went off the skate of Colorado's Blake Comeau and past Varlamov at 14:55. It was Martin's third of the season.
MacKinnon set up Rantanen's 12th goal of the lead midway through the second period to make it 2-1 but Polak tied it on a sharp-angle shot 3:35 later.
NOTES: The Avalanche have killed off 30 straight penalties and have not allowed a power-play goal in 10 games. ... Toronto G Calvin Pickard was recalled from the Marlies of the AHL because of a lower-body injury suffered by usual backup Curtis McElhinney. Pickard was 10-5-0 with a 2.20 goals-against average and .919 save percentage with the Marlies. ... Avalanche D Andrei Mironov, recalled from San Antonio of the AHL on Thursday, was a healthy scratch. RW Nail Yakupov was also scratched. ... Maple Leafs C Nazem Kadri was scratched with an upper-body injury. ... Mikko Rantanen's goal extended his point streak to a career-long eight games.