The Toronto Maple Leafs will take a three-game skid into a home game against the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday.
The Maple Leafs won the first matchup between the teams this season 6-3 on Oct. 10 at Colorado, and they’ve been victorious in three of the last four meetings going back to the 2024-25 season. The Avalanche did earn a 4-1 victory in a meeting between the teams last season at Toronto.
Protecting home ice has been an issue for the Maple Leafs since the start of the month. They kicked off November with a late rally that fell short in a 3-2 loss to the Utah Mammoth. Then, they were held off the board until the third period in a 4-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. Their last time out was the most disappointing, as Connor Hellebuyck and the visiting New Jersey Devils blanked the Leafs 4-0.
In the most recent defeat, Toronto held New Jersey off the board in a scoreless first frame. The Devils’ Timo Meier then scored twice in the second period, Nico Hischier added a power-play goal and Connor Brown scored into an empty net to close out the game.
Anthony Stolarz made 25 saves for Toronto as the loss dropped the Maple Leafs to 1-5-0 since Oct. 26.
“Not a good game for us,” Maple Leafs head coach Jim Hiller said. “First period, I thought, was all right. Obviously, that was our best period, and not much going on, which I think probably benefited us … And once a couple of their top players broke loose, we had a hard time with them.”
The Avalanche are set to kick off a four-game road trip looking for consistency after a 2-1-1 start to the month. Colorado began November with a 5-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks, its third win in a row.
But since then, Colorado stumbled in a 7-2 upset loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, then rallied late but was stopped short in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Nashville Predators. The Avs righted the ship Saturday with a 4-0 win against the Detroit Red Wings.
Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar each had a goal and two assists against the Red Wings. Martin Necas found the back of the net twice for Colorado, including a second-period power-play goal that opened the scoring, and assisted on his teammates’ two goals.
“There were no passengers on the bench (Saturday). I liked everybody’s game,” Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said. “We were just getting different contributions, like throughout. I felt like when we got momentum, we were able to keep it because we were playing everybody, and everyone was doing a job. So it was a great effort from our team.”
Mackenzie Blackwood made 27 saves in his first shutout of the season.
“It’s not like the most important thing, obviously. It’s more like doing the right stuff, liking my game, liking the reads and everything,” Blackwood said. “Obviously, they’re going to score goals in the NHL most nights, but whenever you can come away with zero, it’s a good feeling.”
