Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Colorado Avalanche – Game #49 Preview, Projected Lines & TV Info

Puck Drop: 7:00 p.m. EST  |  Arena: Air Canada Centre |  TV: SN Ontario |  Radio: TSN 1050

Game Day Quotes

Mike Babcock on the red-hot Colorado Avalanche:

[Mackinnon’s] a good player. He’s obviously second in the league in scoring. He’s on fire right now. Their team’s playing real well. Their big line is scoring, but I think as a team they’re playing well. I think their coaching staff’s done a real nice job. They’re playing fast, they’re working hard, they’re scoring first. When you score first, things go well for your team

Babcock on how the Leafs defense adjusted without Morgan Rielly on Saturday:

Well, I thought our forwards played, so hard that it made our D look real good. To me, it was the least opportunity we gave any team this year. We tracked back hard, we worked hard, we competed hard. You know, everyone right here in this room thinks you’re working hard. There’s always another level, right?

We were able to find that last game. When you see it as a fan, you think about the comeback. We played well, so we should have never been behind, but we just stuck with it and stayed the course. We watched a good football team do that yesterday, too. You just stay the course. You don’t get in your own way. You don’t panic. Next thing you know, you win some games.

Babcock on Morgan Rielly’s status:

Yeah, he’s not going tonight. It was good, I didn’t know what the heck I was going to do anyway. Those three kids played good; how was I going to scratch one of them? Now I don’t have to make a decision (laughing). But it’s the truth. Who was I going to scratch? They all played good.

Babcock on having two rookies in his top six:

Just get out there and play and do what you do. A lot of time what happens is the coach is careful with you and you don’t get the same sort of rhythm. I think sometimes, when you don’t have anybody else, you just get out there and you just play. The better the forwards are, the easier it is. Our D last game last game didn’t have to handle d-zone coverage; all they had to handle was the rush. But if a team gets heavy on you, then you’ve got to sort things out. You’ve got to think, you’ve got to box out; you’ve got to do those things. But if you don’t ever play in your zone, the game’s a lot easier looking forward with the puck on your stick.

Babcock on Jake Gardiner’s season to date:

I like Jake a lot just because he makes such elite plays and he’s not in the scoring chances against. Sometimes you don’t know what he’s doing, but he’s not in the scoring chances against. Then he makes elite plays and we seem to play in the offensive zone when he’s out there. So, that’s good with me.

Travis Dermott on the thrill of playing in the NHL:

Yeah, it’s amazing. At least four or five times, I’ll sit there and look at the guy beside me and be like ‘Damn, I love playing with you guys’. It’s an exiting time to be in this organization and the players we have here are exceptional.

Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar on what’s made Nathan Mackinnon’s season so good:

His drive and determination to be the best. He trains extremely hard in the off season. He’s the hardest worker on our team during the season. You pair that drive that he has with his ability to skate and make plays… We’re starting to see him evolve into an elite player in this league. He’s been outstanding for us thus far.

Bednar on if Mackinnon has been using his speed and skill in different ways this year:

He’s a more dangerous player one-on-one now because he’s kind of mixed up his attack. Sometimes he’ll drive the D deep into the zone and try to take it to the net. Sometimes he pulls up and tries to cut into the middle of the ice. We’re seeing him shoot and use the defenceman as a screen a little bit more. He’s also a threat to pull up and look for other guys on the ice. We’ve seen him distribute the puck pretty well this year.

Matchup Stats

Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lineup

*We have added goal, assist, and point totals for each player below the lines. Total goals per line are indicated, too, as well as save percentage for goalies.

Forwards

Hyman – Matthews – Nylander
  (48-8-17-25) – (39-20-15-35) – (47-9-23-32) Total: 37
Marleau – Kadri – Komarov
(48-15-9-24) – (46-14-11-25) – (47-4-9-13)  Total: 33
Van Riemsdyk – Bozak – Brown
  (47-19-10-29) – (46-8-16-24) – (48-12-6-18) Total: 39
Martin – Gauthier – Marner
 (46-3-8-11) – (8-1-0-1) – (48-6-26-32)  Total: 10

Defencemen

Gardiner – Hainsey
 (48-3-20-23) – (48-3-14-17) Total: 6
Dermott – Carrick
 (5-0-1-1) – (29-3-3-6) Total: 3
Borgman – Polak
(44-3-7-10) – (29-2-4-6) Total: 5

Goaltenders

Andersen (.920 sv%)
McElhinney (.916 sv%)

Scratched: Moore
Injured: Soshnikov, Zaitsev, Rielly

Colorado Avalanche Projected Lineup

Forwards

Landeskog – Mackinnon – Rantanen
  (41-16-18-34) – (45-23-36-59) – (45-17-29-46) Total: 56
Nieto – Soderberg – Comeau
(38-9-8-17) – (42-10-12-22) – (45-8-12-20) Total: 27
Bourque – Jost – Compher
  (21-1-2-3) – (28-3-5-8) – (33-7-6-13) Total: 11
Toninato – Kerfoot – Yakupov
 (10-0-1-1) – (42-11-19-30) – (39-8-5-13) Total: 19

Defencemen

Zadorov – Johnson
 (40-3-10-13) – (43-7-12-19) Total: 10
Nemeth – Barberio
 (31-3-8-11) – (42-3-10-13) Total: 6
Girard – Lindholm
 (31-0-9-9) – (30-0-0-0) Total: 0

Goaltenders

Bernier (.919 sv%)
Hammond (NA)

Injured: Barrie, Varlamov, Andrighetto