Preview: Big test at home against Toronto
Photo by Jack Dempsey/Getty Images
Two of the league’s best go head-to-head in a tough matchup.
The Colorado Avalanche return home for a big Saturday night showdown against the Toronto Maple Leafs. We will see two of the league’s best teams go head-to-head on Hockey Day in the USA in what should hopefully be a good game.
The reason why they’re two of the league’s best? Well, they have two of the best players in the world: Nathan MacKinnon and Auston Matthews. Both were involved in a high-scoring 5-3 win for the Avs earlier this season in Toronto in a nice comeback effort.
Colorado Avalanche
The Avs come back home after one quick road trip to Michigan. But yet again, they cannot seem to win on the road, as they fell 2-1 in overtime to the Detroit Red Wings.
Colorado comes home with one of the best records on home ice in the NHL. Once again, they’ll be looking to improve said record with the aforementioned MacKinnon and look for help down the lineup as well.
Speaking of the lineup, Logan O’Connor returned from a lower-body injury last game. But, they lost Andrew Cogliano to an illness, and Frederik Olofsson was placed on waivers. With no morning skate, we’ll see how they are feeling come game time tonight.
Oh... #GoAvsGo https://t.co/lnDfGkw6Ea— Mile High Hockey (@MileHighHockey) February 24, 2024
Projected Lines
Jonathan Drouin (27) - Nathan MacKinnon (29) - Mikko Rantanen (96)Miles Wood (28) - Ross Colton (20) - Logan O’Connor (25)Artturi Lehkonen (62) - Ryan Johansen (12) - Zach Parise (9)Kurtis MacDermid (56) - Chris Wagner (14) - Joel Kiviranta (94)
Devon Toews (7) - Cale Makar (8)Sam Girard (49) - Josh Manson (42)Jack Johnson (3) - Bowen Byram (4)
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Maple Leafs are on an absolute tear at the moment. Their most recent win came on Thursday night against the Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights, making quick work of them in a big 6-3 win.
Toronto is in the middle of a four-game road trip, with this game in Colorado being the fourth of four games. They’ve won all three games thus far, and are in the midst of a six-game winning streak.
It helps when the aforementioned Matthews has scored 52 goals in 56 games, leading the NHL. He will look to bring the same tenacity and scoring touch to win their seventh straight game and continue climbing up the tight Atlantic Division standings.
Auston Matthews is on pace for 77 goals. @MapleLeafs | #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/KXkkDcQaQR— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) February 23, 2024
Projected Lines
Matthew Knies (23) – Auston Matthews (34) – Mitch Marner (16)Tyler Bertuzzi (59) – Max Domi (11) – William Nylander (88)Bobby McMann (74) – John Tavares (91) – Nicholas Robertson (89)Pontus Holmberg (29) – David Kampf (64) – Ryan Reaves (75)
T.J. Brodie (78) – Timothy Liljegren (37)Morgan Reilly (44) – William Lagesson (85)Simon Benoit (2) – Jake McCabe (22)
Goaltenders
With Alexandar Georgiev getting the last game off, we should see him well-rested and ready to go in the crease. For the Leafs, their netminders have been all over the place as of late but we should see Ilya Samsonov in net....
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