the time, but youve got to work hard every single day.The Avs got on the board first with Rantanens fourth goal this season.

TORONTO -- A night after a most deflating defeat, the Colorado Avalanche didnt exactly take out their frustrations on the Toronto Maple Leafs.No, they just got a stellar effort from their Russian goaltender.Semyon Varlamov made 51 saves, helping Colorado rebound from a miserable loss with a 3-1 victory over the Maple Leafs on Sunday night.The Avs fell 10-1 to Montreal on Saturday, allowing 10 goals in a game for the first time since moving from Quebec for the 1995 season.It was embarrassing, top-line center Nathan MacKinnon said. Hockey Night in Canada, losing 10-1, it was horrible. I think we all wanted to crawl into a hole.The laughable loss didnt exactly spark the Avs, though. The Leafs had 16 of the first 19 shots, hogging the puck in the Colorado zone shift after shift. The Leafs couldnt break through, however, largely due to the efforts of Varlamov. The netminder, who gave up six goals in the loss to Montreal, was stellar in stopping all 21 first-period shots, a season high this year for the Leafs.We needed a bounce back today, Varlamov said. Its always hard to forget the bad games, but were all professional and we have to move on quick and then focus on the next day.Mikko Rantanen, MacKinnon and Blake Comeau scored, helping last-place Colorado get its second win in nine games.It could be a blessing, MacKinnon said of the 10-1 defeat. You never know. It could be a turning point in our season that we need to wake up.Antoine Bibeau made 26 saves in his first NHL start, and Jake Gardiner scored for Toronto.The Leafs, who won 4-1 in Boston on Saturday, are now 0-5-1 in the second half of back-to-backs this season.Notable in the early going for Toronto was Mitch Marners brief drop to the fourth line. Among the leading rookie scorers, the 19-year-old has cooled of late, totaling just three assists (no goals) in nine games before Sunday.He was reunited with usual linemates James van Riemsdyk and Tyler Bozak in the second and added a late assist on Gardiners power-play goal.I think theres been a message going on for a bit, Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. It doesnt go your way all the time, but youve got to work hard every single day.The Avs got on the board first with Rantanens fourth goal this season. Bibeau had trouble with Jarome Iginlas initial one-time attempt on the Colorado power play, and Matt Duchene grabbed the rebound in front before finding Rantanen with a backhand pass. The 20-year-old fired into a largely empty cage, Bibeaus left skate locking with teammate Matt Hunwicks right skate as he scrambled to get over.The 22-year-old was making his first NHL start after a so-so beginning to the American Hockey League season. Superb in October, during which he was named the leagues goalie of the month, Bibeau dropped off and lost his final five starts before being recalled to replace Jhonas Enroth as Frederik Andersens backup.Bibeau had to come up big after the Leafs failed to score on their third power play of the game. The 6-foot-3 netminder shut down a 2-on-1 opportunity between Avalanche forwards John Mitchell and Gabriel Landeskog, then stopped tough guy Cody McLeod during another Colorado rush.The action turned chippy with less than eight minutes left in the second period when Matt Martin dumped Andreas Martinsen along the boards in the Colorado end. Nikita Zadarov, a 6-5, 230-pound defender, took exception to the hit and proceeded to fight with the 6-3, 220-pound Martin.MacKinnon upped the lead to 2-0 in the third. High sticked by Leafs forward Leo Komarov as he came through the neutral zone, MacKinnon blew right past the Toronto defense and beat Bibeau for his eighth goal of the season and third in the last four games.Komarov drew a double-minor for his foul, though the Leafs managed to hold the Avalanche off the board.Torontos power play, which scored only once in the previous five games, finally broke through in the waning minutes of regulation when Gardiner beat Varlamov with a one-time blast. That brought the Leafs to within one, but Comeau iced it with an empty netter just over a minute later.Game notes Overall shot attempts were 99-52 in favor of Toronto.UP NEXTAvalanche: Host the Flyers on Wednesday night.Maple Leafs: Host the Sharks on Tuesday night. Custom Cincinnati Bengals Jerseys . Scott Kazmir allowed four hits in seven shutout innings, Michael Brantley hit a two-run homer in a three-run first inning and the Indians maintained their hold on an AL wild-card spot with a 4-1 win over the Houston Astros on Saturday night. Anthony Munoz Womens Jersey . Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the Carolina Hurricanes, announced Wednesday that the team would assign Swedish forward Elias Lindholm to his nations team for the upcoming tournament. http://www.bengalsrookiestore.com/Bengals-Aj-Green-Jersey/ . The Montreal Canadiens announced on Friday that the veteran forward will return to the teams line-up on Saturday night when the Habs visit the Nashville Predators. Germaine Pratt Jersey . Having already announced that the race will start May 9 with three stages in Northern Ireland and Ireland and finish in Trieste on June 1, the rest of the route was unveiled Monday. Michael Jordan Youth Jersey .H. -- Matt Kenseth made it 2 for 2 in the Chase, holding off teammate Kyle Busch to win Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. RIO DE JANEIRO -- The battle of the last winless mens basketball teams in Group A went down to the wire as Venezuela squeaked past China 72-68 Wednesday night to take another step toward advancing.The Chinese (0-3) are now unlikely to qualify for the next round.Venezuela power forward Nestor Colmenares made the two plays of the game down the stretch. He took a charge with 38.4 seconds remaining and Venezuela holding a one-point lead. After forcing the turnover, he hit a floater over the outstretched arrm of 6-foot-11 Yi Jianlian with 15.dddddddddddd8 seconds left to seal the win.Colmenares led the team with 16 points, five rebounds and four assists.Venezuela (1-2) opened the fourth quarter with a 7-2 run, including a pair of jumpers from Anthony Perez, to take a 58-52 lead. China got within one in the final period but never led.Yi Jianlian scored a game-high 18 for China. ' ' '