The Toronto Maple Leafs’ win against the Colorado Avalanche on January 12 was the game of the year until further notice. You had the Avalanche, a genuine juggernaut of a team that has only lost in regulation four times this season against a Leafs team that has underperformed to date but strung together some great hockey to the tune of a 7-0-2 record in their last nine games. The result was a back-and-forth affair with star power flourishing on both sides and the Leafs ultimately prevailing with a 4-3 overtime win.

Right from the drop of the puck, you could tell that the Avalanche are simply in a class of their own. Their speed and puck movement championed by Nathan MacKinnon, who has been a genuine maniac in 2025-26, made for what was undoubtedly the Leafs’ biggest test of the regular season and likely won’t be topped by anything else.

Easton Cowan opened the scoring off a fluke goal by banking it off of Avalanche defenceman Brent Burns and in, but the Avalanche responded quickly and left the first frame up 2-1 after goals from Cale Makar and Brock Nelson. Bobby McMann tied the game in the second period and the score stayed at 2-2 going into the third. Auston Matthews gave the Leafs the lead with a textbook Auston Matthews snipe in the third period, but the Avalanche weren’t going to lose their fifth game in regulation, with a tying goal from Martin Necas looming in the third.

The Leafs’ penalty kill gave up a goal early in the game, but they tightened up and killed two absolutely massive penalties in the third period, including one with just over two minutes remaining in the game. They pushed it to overtime and traded chances once again before William Nylander ultimately sealed the game after a cross-ice pass from Oliver Ekman-Larsson on an odd-man rush.

In a game where the pressure was higher than ever on Matthews and Nylander to match up against MacKinnon and Necas, the former scored the tying goal and assisted on the overtime winner, and the latter assisted on the tying goal and scored the overtime winner. There has been a lot of cautious optimism around the way the Leafs have been playing lately, considering how forgettable their season was up until Christmas, but a game like that is exactly how you remind the league who you are. It was Colorado’s first loss at home in 17(!) games and only their 12th loss of the season to date. The big boys had to show up, and they did.

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