It doesn’t get any easier, to say the least, for the slumping Maple Leafs in this Sunday matinee against the probable 2025-26 President’s Trophy winners (1:30 p.m. EST, TSN4).
Game Day Quotes
Craig Berube on the many challenges presented by the Avalanche:
Definitely, the speed at which they way play is high-end. It is about being above things and taking away that speed as much as possible, which is not easy all the time, but you don’t want to get into that track meet against these guys. That is when it becomes difficult, and you find yourself chasing all night.
We have to play a territorial game. We have to be a really intelligent team with the puck. Our forecheck is going to be key — getting these stalled in the offensive zone, and getting o-zone time. They get frustrated if they’re in their own zone too much. If we can get into the zone, get it stalled, and get some o-zone time, it is going to benefit us and keep their speed down.
Berube on the difficulty of defending the Nathan MacKinnon-Martin Necas duo, compared to the Mackinnon-Rantanen duo:
I think Necas plays with a little more speed. He attacks a little more off the rush than Rantaen would. Rantanen is more of a territorial player in the offensive zone — big, strong, and strong on the puck.
I mean, they’re both good, but I think that is the difference. Necas is more of a rush player, for me.
Berube on the importance of Auston Matthews being as effective as he was in Colorado:
Well, he has to be, for sure. He is going to get a lot of that matchup, and he is going to have to be good on both sides of the puck, as is everybody else with him. It is not just him. We have to defend as five and play as five-man units tonight. It is not on one guy.
Berube on inserting Jacob Quillan into the lineup for Calle Jarnkrok:
It’s just to get some young speed and energy in there. It gives me some options, too, with Laughton (to move him up).
Quillan’s a real strong skater. He works extremely hard. Those are his traits. He is going to be an NHL player over the years coming. It is his skating and those types of things that are going to make him a good player.
Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar on the expectations for his team to start their road trip in Toronto:
We are going to need a complete game. That is what we’ve been lacking at home. Everything is a little bit too sporadic for us right now. We have to put a complete game together.
The Leafs played a really good hockey game in our building. I didn’t like our second period. It ends up being a close one at the end. We need a full 60, and we need everyone pulling on the rope in the same direction.
Bednar on his team’s recent 4-4-2 form:
We’ve gotten a 5-10% dropoff in every aspect of our game. We are not checking the puck back with the same ferocity as we did earlier on in the offensive zone, the neutral zone, and the defensive zone.
Goaltending was exceptional early in the year. It has dropped off a little bit. I think we are still creating plenty of scoring chances, but we are not finishing them off quite as often.
It is going to take an exceptional effort from our guys. We need to dig in a little bit here and get our game back to where it was before.
Maple Leafs (24-18-9) vs. Avalanche (34-6-9): Head-to-Head Stats
via NaturalStatTrick.com & AdvancedHockeyStats.com
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
#23 Matthew Knies – #34 Auston Matthews – #11 Max Domi
#24 Scott Laughton – #91 John Tavares – #74 Bobby McMann
#63 Matias Maccelli – #55 Nic Roy – #89 Nick Robertson
#18 Steven Lorentz – #26 Jacob Quillan – #53 Easton Cowan
Defensemen
#22 Jake McCabe – #95 Oliver Ekman-Larsson
#44 Morgan Rielly – #25 Brandon Carlo
#2 Simon Benoit – #28 Troy Stecher
Goaltenders
Starter: #60 Joseph Woll
#41 Anthony Stolarz
Extras: Henry Thrun, Philippe Myers
Injured: William Nylander (day-to-day), Chris Tanev (IR), Dakota Joshua (IR), Dakota Mermis (LTIR)
Colorado Avalanche Projected Lines
Forwards
#95 Victor Olofsson – #29 Nathan MacKinnon – #88 Martin Necas
#62 Artturi Lehkonen – #11 Brock Nelson – #13 Valeri Nichushkin
#16 Taylor Makar – #18 Jack Drury – #54 Gavin Brindley
#93 Zakhar Bardakov – #17 Parker Kelly – #94 Joel Kiviranta
Defensemen
#70 Sam Malinski – #8 Cale Makar
#42 Josh Manson – #84 Brent Burns
#49 Samuel Girard – #15 Jack Ahcan
Goaltenders
Starter: #39 Mackenzie Blackwood
#35 Isak Posch
Injured/Out: Gabriel Landeskog, Devon Toews, Logan O’Connor, Ross Colton
