The Maple Leafs are looking to exact revenge for a tough loss in Colorado earlier this month when they face a stiff test against the surging Avalanche tonight in Toronto (7:00 p.m. EST, Sportsnet).
Game Day Quotes
John Tavares on Nathan MacKinnon’s ascension to the top point producer in the league:
Whether it is this year or the accolades he earned last year and what he has become in the game, he has just seemed to find something a number of years ago that has allowed him to take off, become one of the best players of the world, and just be so dynamic and so hard to play against and difficult to defend. He is one of the toughest challenges you are going to face in the game.
From being around him a little bit and getting to know him, you see how hard he works and how diligent he is about his preparation and craft with who great he wants to be. He is an extremely competitive guy.
Playing against a player at his level is always a great challenge. You have to be at your best.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson on the difficulty of defending MacKinnon:
One of the best players in the league, so it is a good challenge for us. It is about skating, having a good stick, and defending as a unit of five guys. It is going to be important that we come out, skate, and try to stay out of the box.
OEL on the talents of Cale Makar:
It is impressive. I probably shouldn’t pump his tires too much before tonight, but it is impressive, the way he moves. He and Quinn (Hughes) in Vancouver kind of move the same way. You wish you had that in your game a little bit more.
It is impressive the way he passes the puck, skates, and creates a lot of chances for himself by moving his feet. A lot of defensemen look at the way he plays the game and moves the puck.
It is another good challenge for us to keep the puck away from him.
OEL on the team’s bounce-back effort vs. Calgary and how the squad can build on it:
It is a tough league. I get it. You are going to have nights off. But it is a matter of bouncing back quickly. We can’t have those three or four games where we are not playing up to our standards. It was a good game overall to get a win in the way that we competed and played.
We have shown, over the course of this season, that we can find ways to win. We have been looking to get back to that. I felt like we fell off a little bit. We had five, six, or seven games where we didn’t play like what we wanted. I think it is important that we get back to playing the way we were supposed to. If we play that way, we are going to be successful.
For the most part, this year, we have been successful playing that way. It is just a matter of getting back to playing that way.
OEL on his partnership with Simon Benoit:
Going back to early in the season, I feel like I have been playing with everybody on the backend. That helps now that I am going into the end of the year here.
He is a guy who plays hard and keeps it simple. We have been playing some good hockey together. We are trying to read off of each other a little bit, keep it simple, and defend hard. That is what we were talking about.
If we can chip in a point here or there, that is a plus. He is on a hot streak right now. He has been good with the puck lately. He scored a goal and picked up a couple of apples. He is feeling good.
Craig Berube on the takeaways from the team’s convincing win over Calgary on Monday:
If you look at the first period and the predictability and directness of going north-south, putting pucks at the net, recovering them, not hesitating, moving them quickly, shooting it again, and recovering them, we were on our toes. We won a lot of loose-puck recoveries. There were a lot of shot attempts. We didn’t go back with the puck; we got it going north. We have to do the same tonight.
Berube on the keys to shutting down Nathan MacKinnon:
I don’t know, but if you find out before the game, you can let me know.
You just have to stay on top of him as best as you can. It is like playing McDavid. They have great speed and are competitive guys with tons of skill. It is about trying to slow them down — picking them up in the neutral zone, trying to get on top of them, denying them the puck as much as possible, and taking time and space away.
It is all the same things that every coach says.
Berube on the difficulty of handling Cale Makar off the blue line:
It is probably even more difficult. He is a great player. Again, it is a lot of the same things — trying to get above him as much as you can and trying to make him work in his own zone.
Tonight, we have to make this team play in their own end as much as possible. When that is happening, it is important that we get some line changes and some fresh people on the ice. Make them extend their shifts as much as possible.
Head-to-Head Stats: Maple Leafs (40-24-3) vs. Avalanche (41-24-4)
In the 2024-25 regular season statistics, Toronto holds the advantage in three out of five offensive categories, but Colorado holds the advantage in three out of five defensive categories.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
#23 Matthew Knies — #34 Auston Matthews — #16 Mitch Marner
#29 Pontus Holmberg — #91 John Tavares — #88 William Nylander
#74 Bobby McMann — #11 Max Domi — #89 Nick Robertson
#18 Steven Lorentz — #24 Scott Laughton —#19 Calle Jarnkrok
Defensemen
#22 Jake McCabe — #8 Chris Tanev
#44 Morgan Rielly — #25 Brandon Carlo
#2 Simon Benoit — #95 Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Goaltenders
Starter: #60 Joseph Woll
#41 Anthony Stolarz
Extras: David Kampf, Philippe Myers
Injured (LTIR): Jani Hakanpää, Max Pacioretty
Colorado Avalanche Projected Lines
Forwards
#62 Artturi Lehkonen — #29 Nathan MacKinnon — #88 Martin Necas
#13 Valeri Nichushkin — #11 Brock Nelson — #27 Jonathan Drouin
#94 Joel Kiviranta — #10 Charlie Coyle — #20 Ross Colton
#17 Parker Kelly — #18 Jack Drury — #25 Logan O’Connor
Defensemen
#7 Devon Toews — #8 Cale Makar
#55 Ryan Lindgren — #70 Sam Malinski
#49 Samuel Girard — #6 Erik Johnson
Goaltenders
Starter: #39 Mackenzie Blackwood
#41 Scott Wedgewood
Injured: Tucker Poolman, Gabriel Landeskog, Josh Manson
