Avalanche at Maple Leafs preview

AVALANCHE (26-16-3) at MAPLE LEAFS (26-17-5)
7 p.m. ET; TVA Sports, SNO, ALT2, NHL.TV

The Avalanche have held opponents to two goals or fewer seven times during their nine-game run, the longest in the NHL this season. They won nine straight games from Oct. 10-28, 2000 and went on to win the Stanley Cup that season. Their record is a 12-game winning streak from Jan. 10 to Feb. 7, 1999.
The Maple Leafs will be without defenseman Morgan Rielly for the second straight game because of an upper-body injury. They are 1-1-3 in their past five games but have points in six of their past seven (3-1-3).

Players to watch

Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon is on a five-game goal streak and has 19 points (eight goals, 11 assists) during a nine-game point streak. He is second in the League with 59 points (23 goals, 36 assists), two behind Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov.
Maple Leafs defenseman Jake Gardiner had three assists in a 4-3 win against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. He has four in his past two games.

They said it

"He's been big for us. He's been patient waiting for his opportunity and now with [Semyon]Varlamov going down with a longer injury, he's been outstanding. It's good to see a guy like him have success because he's been a great teammate supporting Varlamov." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar on goaltender Jonathan Bernier
"They're a fast line and you have to be able to contain MacKinnon's speed, he's one of the fastest players in the League. Just being above the puck is important and not chasing. If you're chasing a guy like that, you're probably not going to catch him." -- Maple Leafs forward Zach Hyman on Colorado's top line

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Blake Comeau
Dominic Toninato -- Alex Kerfoot -- Nail Yakupov
Tyson Jost -- J.T. Compher -- Gabriel Bourque
Nikita Zadorov -- Erik Johnson
Patrik Nemeth -- Mark Barberio
Samuel Girard -- Anton Lindholm
Jonathan Bernier
Andrew Hammond
Scratched:Colin Wilson, A.J. Greer, David Warsofsky
Injured:Sven Andrighetto (leg), Vladislav Kamenev (broken arm), Tyson Barrie (broken hand), Semyon Varlamov (groin)

Maple Leafs projected lineup

Zach Hyman -- Auston Matthews -- William Nylander
Patrick Marleau -- Nazem Kadri -- Leo Komarov
James van Riemsdyk -- Tyler Bozak -- Connor Brown
Matt Martin -- Frederik Gauthier -- Mitchell Marner
Jake Gardiner -- Ron Hainsey
Travis Dermott -- Connor Carrick
Andreas Borgman -- Roman Polak
Frederik Andersen
Curtis McElhinney
Scratched:Dominic Moore, Josh Leivo
Injured:Morgan Rielly (arm), Nikita Zaitsev (lower body), Nikita Soshnikov (lower body)

Status report

Andrighetto and Barrie skated but will not play. Bednar said they are day to day.

Stat pack

Bernier is 8-0-0 with one shutout while allowing 11 goals in his past eight games (seven starts). … Hyman has three points (goal, two assists) in his past two games.