Toronto Maple Leafs @ Colorado Avalanche
07:00 PM at Ball Arena
Watch on: SN, NHLN, ALT
The Leafs last game was away on October 8 against the Vegas Golden Knights, which Toronto lost by a score of 4-3 in a shootout. The Leafs have a record of 2-2-1 for a 0.500 Points %.
The Colorado Avalanche last played away on October 8 against the Calgary Flames. The Avalanche won by a score of 7-3 in regulation, and their current league record is 3-1-0 for a 0.750 Points %.
Them
Every team is going to need some time to get in the groove of the level of play they can carry through the season, and the Avs are no exception. Like the Leafs, they have some high levels of quality shots allowed undermining their otherwise good play.
They've also been scoring way above expected on the power play – small numbers of games have big variance in outcomes, but you knew that right?
They're goaltending has been just average as well, so they've carved a lot of points out of a mixed bag in performance, but their base puck possession game is solid out of the gate.
Woody gets the start in net for them.
Lines
Last Game (2026-10-08) via Daily Faceoff
Artturi Lehkonen - Nathan MacKinnon - Nazem Kadri
Gabriel Landeskog - Brock Nelson - Martin Necas
Jaden Schwartz - Fedor Svechkov - T.J. Hughes
Parker Kelly - Nicolas Roy - Zachary L'Heureux
Devon Toews - Cale Makar
Brett Kulak - Noah Juulsen
Josh Manson - Brent Burns
Mackenzie Blackwood
Scott Wedgewood
Us
There is unlikely to be a morning skate in Denver, given the early start local time, so yesterday's practice lines will have to do. Miles Wood was not at that practice, so he may draw in on that third line.
If you missed the news, John Tavares returned to Toronto for the birth of his son Tucker.
Lines
Mark Masters via Daily Faceoff
Kirill Marchenko - Auston Matthews - Jack Roslovic
Easton Cowan - Nick Paul - William Nylander
Gavin McKenna - Colton Sissons - Bo Groulx
Zack MacEwen - Teddy Blueger - Brandon Duhaime
Jake McCabe - Darren Raddysh
Morgan Rielly - Chris Tanev
Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Troy Stecher
Anthony Stolarz - likely starter
Sergei Bobrovsky
The Game
The Leafs are trying to untangle a very big knot. No one is going to come along with a sword and just slice through it, we have to wait while they pick at the threads and gradually straighten everything out.
The power play is climbing up the rankings in terms of Expected Goals with the actual goals lagging behind. But I think we've seen the first unit come together more each time they get a chance. The PK got heaps of practice in Vegas and should be better than it is. They had one really terrible effort vs Nashville and it's been a bit better since, but they're still sixth worst in the league for the xG they allow shorthanded.
At even-strength they are okay at shotshare, but give up way too much in their own zone. The offensive pace is good, but this roster is definitely capable of better, so I expect that to improve. I don't actually expect the defensive metrics to ever be better than okay. Demanding more will work very well if your end goal is to be angry or you're looking to prove that "this team" is such-and-such.
This team is so unlike other versions of the 2016+ Leafs, we aren't going to know what they can do until they do it. Brendan Shanahan thought the Leafs needed to tilt towards more cautious play to improve defensively. John Chayka seems to be leaning in to the offence (for now). So we'll see how this all goes. But if they get to okay on xGA, I think they'll be a very fun team that wins a lot of games.
