Brandon Carlo's Maple Leafs Debut Shockingly Solid Despite Leafs Allowing 7 Goals to Avs

In the dying minutes leading up to the NHL's trade deadline on Friday, the Leafs pulled off a significant move, parting with some solid assets to acquire Carlo from the Boston Bruins in an unlikely deal between two heated rivals.

The Leafs did not wait long to arrange to have Carlo and fellow new addition Scott Laughton fly out to meet the Leafs in Denver in time for Saturday's clash with the Colorado Avalanche.

Unfortunately, the Leafs fell short, despite owning a 2-goal lead in the game. In the end, the team allowed 5 straight goals, including 2 empty-net tallies, dropping a 7-4 decision to the Avs to suffer their third straight loss.

While Laughton shouldered a lot of the blame after the loss, vowing to be better moving forward, Carlo couldn't have done much more to help his team win the game.

Carlo came in and led all of his Leafs teammates in ice time and penalty-kill time against the Avs, and also blocked a game-leading 6 shots -- the most by a player on either team. He also finished as an even 0 +/- rating in a game where the opposition potted 7 goals.

It's clear that, right out of the gate, Leafs head coach Craig Berube trusts Brandon Carlo, and that's a good thing for the team, because he certainly proved his worth on Saturday night.

What last night's game says about Carlo is that Brad Treliving did what he needed to do on deadline day. There was a very important hole that needed to be filled, and Treliving addressed that need by acquiring a guy who has made an immediate impact.

Now, just imagine what Carlo will be able to do for this team once he familiarizes himself with the team's system and grows some chemistry with his new teammates.