Jean-Sebastien Giguere returned to Toronto and outdueled the young goalie who took his job with the Maple Leafs.
Giguere made 27 saves, and David Jones scored 1:11 into overtime to give the Colorado Avalanche a 3-2 victory over the Maple Leafs on Monday night.
The veteran goalie has gotten off to a good start with the Avalanche, winning both of his starts. He has no regrets about his time in Toronto.
''I had a good time playing here, even though it didn't go the way I would have liked on the ice,'' Giguere said. ''I have a bunch of respect for them. I think they're going to be a good team this year.''
Giguere signed as a free agent with the Avalanche after spending last season with the Maple Leafs. His stint in Toronto ended with him losing the starting job to rookie James Reimer.
Reimer, who made 21 saves for the Maple Leafs, gave credit to his mentor.
''I looked up to him as a kid, watching him play. He was one of the goalies I loved to watch,'' Reimer said. ''So to get to play with him last year was great, and to play against him was a pretty cool experience, but all that seems pretty useless right now since we lost.''
Jones gave the Avalanche (5-1) their first 5-0 road trip in club history when he buried the rebound of Kyle Quincey's shot past Reimer.
Daniel Winnik and Milan Hejduk also scored for Colorado. Phil Kessel and Nikolai Kulemin had goals for the Maple Leafs (3-0-1). Toronto failed to post its second straight 4-0 start.
After a scoreless first period, Kessel gave the Leafs a 1-0 lead just 19 seconds into the second. Kessel led a rush and ripped a shot past Giguere's shoulder after crossing the blue line.
Colorado quickly got even at 3:31. Ryan O'Reilly brought the puck into the Toronto zone before passing it back to the trailing Winnik, whose low shot beat Reimer between the pads.
''There's a couple (Reimer) obviously would want back, but he made a number of saves that sort of makes up for it,'' Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson said. ''It was one of those nights, unfortunately. They got some lucky bounces on two of the goals.''
The Maple Leafs had a chance to take the lead later in the period, but Kulemin missed a chance at an empty net when Giguere was out of position. Clarke MacArthur was then stopped on a follow-up chance.
Colorado's second goal came on the power play with just over five minutes left in the second. With Tyler Bozak in the box for interference, Hejduk let go a shot from the right side that beat Reimer. The puck got through traffic in front and squeezed through a gap between Reimer's left arm and leg.
Kulemin tied it 2-2 with just under five minutes left in the third. The Leafs were pressing all period but Giguere kept them at bay until he was unable to hold onto defenseman Dion Phaneuf's shot. Kulemin was there to pick up the rebound and found the open side for his first goal of the season.
''I thought it was big point that we battled back to get, to be completely honest. We didn't play our best 40 minutes. We were down 2-1 going into the third,'' Phaneuf said. ''I thought it was a big goal late in the game to get that point and to push it to overtime.
''We're not happy with the loss but we'll take that point and move forward.''
