William Nylander Put Up Five Points on Colorado and the Maple Leafs Finally Look Dangerous
William Nylander walked into Ball Arena on Saturday night and dropped five points on the Colorado Avalanche. Two goals, three assists, a tie of his career high, and a 6-3 Toronto win that finally produced the Maple Leafs’ first road victory of the season. Six games in, this is the Toronto team that should worry the rest of the league.
The bigger number is 700. Per NHL.com, Nylander crossed 700 career NHL points on the night, and his two goals pushed him to 297 for his career. He is going to hit 300 before Halloween at this rate.
Matthews and Nylander Are Still the Whole Thing
Auston Matthews was right there with him with two goals and two assists, the 84th multigoal game of his career. When those two are on the same page, the Maple Leafs do not need a clever scheme. They need to keep the pair on the ice.
That is the honest read on this roster. Toronto spent the offseason changing the supporting cast, and the supporting cast is interesting, but the ceiling is still set by two forwards who have been carrying this franchise for a decade. Saturday was a reminder that the ceiling is very high.
Easton Cowan scored 46 seconds after one of Nylander’s goals late in the second period, which is how good teams turn a lead into a decision. Blankenburg opened the scoring in his Toronto debut. Nathan MacKinnon scored twice for Colorado and Brock Nelson added one, and none of it mattered much once the second period got away from the Avalanche.
The 18-Year-Old Is Already a Factor
Gavin McKenna, the first pick of the 2026 draft, assisted on both of Nylander’s goals. He is now the first Maple Leafs player aged 18 or younger to record a point in three straight games. That is not a gimmick stat about a kid getting sheltered minutes. He is producing on a line with the best player on the ice.
Toronto also got 30 saves and a first win of the season from Sergei Bobrovsky, who has been better than his record through the opening stretch. Mackenzie Blackwood made 16 saves in his first loss of the year for Colorado. The Avalanche went 0 for 5 on the power play, which is the kind of night that turns a close game into a blowout in a hurry.
Colorado coach Jared Bednar did not dress it up afterward. “It was mental mistakes, and when they got their chances, they capitalized on them,” he said. That is a fair description of a 6-3 loss at home to a team that had not won on the road yet.
Where This Leaves Both Teams
Toronto is 3-2-1. Colorado is 3-2-0 and has lost two of its last three. Neither record means much in the second week of October, but the shape of Saturday’s game does. The Avalanche looked like a team whose margin for error is thinner than its reputation suggests.
One concern for Toronto: defenseman Chris Tanev left in the first period with an upper-body injury, and there was no update on his status after the game. The Leafs finish a three-game trip Tuesday at Utah. If Nylander keeps playing like this, nobody in Toronto is going to spend much time worrying about anything else.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
