Maple Leafs at Avalanche preview

MAPLE LEAFS (34-18-3) at AVALANCHE (22-22-11)
9 p.m. ET; ALT, TSN4, NHL.TV

The Avalanche, 0-4-3 during their skid, have allowed at least four goals in six of those seven games and are on their longest losing streak since they had nine consecutive defeats (0-8-1) from Jan. 12-Feb. 1, 2017.
Goalie Semyon Varlamov will start for Colorado, which lost its past three games in overtime; the Avalanche are 1-10 in overtime this season and lost their only shootout, a 3-2 loss at the New York Rangers on Oct. 16. Colorado is four points behind the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
Goalie Frederik Andersen will start for the Maple Leafs, 5-1-1 in their past seven games after going 3-7-0 in their previous 10. They've scored at least four goals in three of their past four games.
Andersen is 4-0-1 with a 2.76 goals-against average and .924 save percentage in his past five starts for Toronto, second place in the Atlantic Division, one point ahead of the third-place Boston Bruins.

Players to watch

Maple Leafs center John Tavares has six points (three goals, three assists) in his past four games.
Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen has two points (one goal, one assist) in his past seven games after having 11 points (six goals, five assists) in his previous seven games. He's three points shy of 200 in the NHL.

They said it

"We got all the skill in the world out there and we should be able to make plays. We just have to catch a break or two." -- Maple Leafs center Nazem Kadri on Toronto's power play, 1-for-18 in its past six games
"There's as much season left as what's taken us to fall from first place to fighting for just above last. If you look at it in a positive way and see we've got points in three straight games and we've been playing really good hockey, I feel we could be on the verge of continuing to get points." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar

Maple Leafs projected lineup

Patrick Marleau -- Auston Matthews -- Kasperi Kapanen
Zach Hyman -- John Tavares -- Mitchell Marner
Connor Brown -- Nazem Kadri -- William Nylander
Par Lindholm -- Frederik Gauthier -- Andreas Johnsson
Jake Muzzin -- Morgan Rielly
Jake Gardiner -- Nikita Zaitsev
Travis Dermott -- Ron Hainsey
Frederik Andersen
Garret Sparks
Scratched: Tyler Ennis, Justin Holl, Igor Ozhiganov
Injured: None

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Alex Kerfoot - Tyson Jost -- J.T. Compher
Matt Nieto - Carl Soderberg - Matt Calvert
A.J. Greer -- Sheldon Dries -- Sven Andrighetto
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson
Nikita Zadorov -- Tyson Barrie
Ryan Graves -- Patrik Nemeth
Semyon Varlamov
Philipp Grubauer
Scratched: Gabriel Bourque
Injured: Mark Barberio (head), Ian Cole (upper body), Vladislav Kamenev (shoulder), Colin Wilson (undisclosed)

Status report

Jost was recalled from Colorado of the American Hockey League. … Defenseman Anton Lindholm was reassigned to the AHL.

Stat pack

Rielly has seven points (one goal, six assists) in his past seven games … Matthews needs two goals for 100 in the NHL … Landeskog has three assists in his past seven games after having nine points (five goals, four assists) in his previous seven games. He needs two points for 400 in the NHL.