Avalanche at Maple Leafs
The Colorado Avalanche are feeling quite comfortable on the road of late with three straight victories and look to build on that when they visit the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday. Red-hot forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Matt Duchene have led the way for the Avalanche, who knocked off Philadelphia, Boston and Montreal to start a season-long seven-game road trip.
Duchene, named the NHL’s first star of the week Monday, recorded four goals and four assists during the win streak and MacKinnon posted four goals and nine points over his past six contests with a plus-8 rating in that span. Colorado hopes to continue its strong run defensively – five goals against in four games – against the Maple Leafs, who saw a five-game point streak end with a 4-3 loss to the New York Rangers on Sunday. James Reimer, who boasts a 4-1-2 record and .945 save percentage in November, was named the NHL’s third star Monday and is expected back in net for Toronto after sitting in favor of the struggling Jonathan Bernier on Sunday. The teams split a pair of games last season with each winning at home after regulation time.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, Altitude 2 (Colorado), TSN4 (Toronto)
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (7-9-1): Captain Gabriel Landeskog will sit out the second of a two-game suspension and Mikhail Grigorenko has taken advantage of the extra playing time. Grigorenko took the spot on a line with MacKinnon and Duchene in the third period in place of Landeskog after he was ejected against Boston, producing one goal and three assists in the last four periods. Reto Berra is expected to start his fifth consecutive game after allowing five goals over the past four, improving his overall save percentage to .953.
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (5-9-4): Joffrey Lupul has scored a goal in each of the last two contests and leads the team with seven while playing in all 18 games after several injury-plagued campaigns. “I’m scoring most of my goals from right around the net, so I keep trying to go back there,” Lupul, who has 201 career tallies, told reporters. Nazem Kadri has gone 14 games without a goal, but owns five assists in that span and coach Mike Babcock told the media his 25-year-old center has been the team’s best forward this season.
OVERTIME
1. Toronto Ds Morgan Rielly and Dion Phaneuf are tied for the team lead with 11 points.
2. Colorado RW Jarome Iginla is third on the team with seven goals and is four shy of becoming the 19th player in NHL history with 600.
3. The Avalanche claimed C Chris Wagner on waivers Sunday from Anaheim and is expected to be in the lineup Tuesday.