Colorado Avalanche drop second game of a back-to-back, lose in overtime to Toronto Maple Leafs

Oct 14, 2014; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; The Toronto Maple Leafs players celebrate after defeating the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 at Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

After earning their first win of the season with 0.5 seconds remaining Monday afternoon, the Colorado Avalanche dropped the second game of a back-to-back Tuesday night, falling to the Toronto Maple Leafs in overtime 3-2.

Toronto was the first team to get in the scoring column Monday night at the Air Canada Center. James van Riemsdyk beat Avs’ goalie Semyon Varlamov top shelf for his second goal of the season. Phil Kessel and van Riemsdyk led a two-on-one charge, resulting in the early 1-0 lead for Toronto.

The Avs’ would respond, scoring their first, first period goal of the season. Forward Ryan O’Reilly got the monkey off his back, collecting his first goal of the 2014-15′ season. O’Reilly’s wrist-shot just beat Leafs’ goaltender James Reimer, tying the game up at one apiece. Jarome Iginla and Erik Johnson were credited with the assists.

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Later in the second period, like O’Reilly, Matt Duchene notched his first goal of the season, on the feeds from Jarome Iginla and Jamie McGinn. Duchene also collected his 106th goal in a Colorado Avalanche uniform, tying Claude Lemieux for 17th all-time on the teams franchise list.

Colorado received a bad break early on in the third period. After Brad Stuart tried to clear the puck from the Avs’ zone, the puck deflected right to Joffrey Lupul who took a wrister from the slot, beating Varlamov five-hole. Lupul’s goal tied the game up at 2-2, forcing an overtime.

The overtime didn’t last long however, as Phil Kessel put a quick end to it. Kessel chased down the puck into the Avalanche zone with Avs’ defenseman Tyson Barrie trailing. Kessel halted on the breaks, stopping on a dime as Barrie couldn’t catch up. Kessel ended up driving out in front of the net, beating Varlamov five-hole yet again. Toronto went on to win 3-2, but the Avs’ collected a point.

The Colorado Avalanche (1-2-1, 3 points) resume their four-game road trip Thursday night as they take on the Ottawa Senators. Puck-drop is scheduled for 7:30 PM EST, 5:30 PM MST.