Avs HC Jared Bednar makes feelings known after unfortunate bounces result in "tough, disheartening" 2-1 loss against Toronto Maple Leafs

The Colorado Avalanche lost 2-1 to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday at Scotiabank Arena making it their second loss in the last 10 games. Their nine-game point streak also ended in the defeat and head coach Jared Bednar was left feeling frustrated with the bad bounces.

Joseph Woll made 38 saves on the night to check the Avs offense. Forward Steven Lorentz scored the game-winner to help the Maple Leafs win their second consecutive game after losing five out of six games before this win streak.

Auston Matthews opened the scoring 28 seconds into the second period. His power-play shot deflected off Devon Toews' stick and into the net. Valeri Nichushkin tied the game at 2:48, also on the power play, after receiving a pass from Nathan MacKinnon. The Avs outshot Toronto 15-10 in the second period and controlled play late in the game but couldn't tie the score.

The game’s deciding goal came early in the third period. Simon Benoit tried to clear the puck, but it hit an official. Lorentz collected it and scored past Mackenzie Blackwood. Avs pushed for a tying goal, but Woll stopped all 11 shots he faced in the third. His biggest save came on Brock Nelson, who shot from the slot.

"I thought we played a pretty good hockey game. Got a little sloppy in the third period in our defending, but we got some big saves from Blacky...It is a tough loss, disheartening, but looking at the way we played for large portions, we were pretty good," Bednar said postgame.

"There are things to clean up in the third on breakouts and defending, and get better at, we probably could have created more secondary rebound chances screens and reflections, but I liked portions of our second period in that regard," he added.

Bednar noted that he liked parts of the Avalanche's second period but the team must improve defensively and on breakouts.

Avs coach Jared Bednar praised team's strong performance against Leafs earlier this month

In their previous encounter on March 8, the Avs defeated the Maple Leafs 7-4 at Ball Arena. After the game, Colorado coach Jared Bednar praised the team's strong performance.

"Loved it. I thought we worked really hard. It's a good game. It was really good hockey from our guys," Bednar said via NHL.com. "That was a really strong performance. We did have those handful of mistakes. We'll correct them. And you can't even fault [Blackwood] on any of those goals against."

Valeri Nichushkin scored a hat trick for the Avalanche and Nathan Mackinnon scored two goals in the contest. Joel Kiviranta and Jonathan Drouin also scored goals for the Avs, while Mitch Marner and John Tavares scored two goals each for the Maple Leafs.

The Colorado Avalanche will look to bounce back when they take on the Ottawa Senators next at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.