What a night for some of the Avalanche’s most experienced players. Gabe Landeskog, Devon Toews, Brock Nelson, and Nazem Kadri were all instrumental in helping Colorado open its road trip with a 6-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

10 Takeaways

Landeskog now has seven goals and 12 points in 19 games. He’s on pace for more than 50 points over a full season, which would be massive for him at this stage of his career.

It came just 51 seconds after Jack Roslovic tied the game at 3-3. That’s an impressive response, and Kadri deserves credit for the helper.

The results have been encouraging. Toews has continued producing, Makar has picked up his offensive game, and Malinski has started contributing more consistently. It’s given Colorado a different look on the back end without sacrificing the offense it expects from its top blueliners.

In his last eight games, Malinski has six assists. He still hasn’t found the back of the net, but he’s getting more comfortable and showing more of the offensive instincts from a season ago. He finished with an assist and was +3 against the Maple Leafs on Tuesday night.

Aside from that, it was another solid performance. Blackwood made 28 saves, improving to 10-3-1 on the season. He’s now the third goaltender in the NHL to reach double-digit wins.

Since then, he’s gone 8-1-1 in 10 starts, with a .913 save percentage and a shutout. That’s an incredible response and speaks to his resilience. It also helps that Bednar continued to believe in him and allowed him to play through those early-season inconsistencies. Blackwood has rewarded that confidence.

I don’t envision Blackwood getting overplayed in quite the same way, especially with Scott Wedgewood more than capable of handling a larger share of the workload despite his slow start.

But it’s important for Blackwood to play a lot. He worked extremely hard this summer, and Bednar knows what he’s put into getting himself ready for this opportunity. Blackwood hasn’t played a ton of games in recent years, and this is his first real chance to establish himself as a go-to starter. I appreciate Bednar challenging him, and I like seeing Blackwood respond the way he has.

It’s hard to believe that Blackwood has never reached 30 wins in a season. The fact that he’s already at 10 and we’re not yet a quarter into 2026-27 is a great sign towards him reaching that mark.