The odds were most definitely stacked against the Toronto Maple Leafs Monday night.
They were playing the best team in the league, for one thing, a Colorado Avalanche squad which hadn’t lost a game in regulation at home all season or a home game, period, since Oct. 23, winning an unthinkable 17 straight.
The Leafs, after a Saturday night home game, also crossed time zones with almost no time to adjust, a hurdle made all the more challenging by the 8 p.m. local start time and the altitude in the Mile High City, which can make for exhausting conditions even without the frenetic speed of their opponent.
None of it mattered.
The Leafs overcame it all and scored by far their biggest victory of the season, beating the Avalanche 4-3 in overtime. They became only the third team all season to win in Denver, joining Dallas and Carolina, both of which scored their victories in October.