Game 4 Preview: Colorado Avalanche at Toronto Maple Leafs

Colorado fly in to southern Ontario tonight to continue their quest to find goals in the Flortheast division. They were able to locate two last night in Boston, a crunchy one from Jamie McGinn and a dramatic one to win it in the last second from Daniel Briere. But still, the top forwards continue empty handed thus far.

A trip to Toronto may be just what the doctor ordered. The Leafs have allowed 37 shots against per game played, better only than defensive stalwarts Buffalo, Edmonton, and Calgary. (Right above them are the Avs, who have allowed 36.7, which of course is weighed down by that barforama on opening night and should come down over time.)

Both teams come in after their first victories of the season, Colorado a business lunch yesterday in Boston (2-1), and Toronto on Sunday over the Rangers (6-3). The Leafs have three points from American hero Phil Kessel, as well as (spit-take) THREE GOALS from THE Tyler Bozak? Other Leafs to watch include rookie defenseman and man with two first names Stuart Percy (1G2A) and, apparently, Corporal Leo Komarov, who has three assists. Toronto, u crayy.

Leafs goaltender James Reimer took a knock to the head, which was kind of terrifying given his concussion history, but is fine and rumor has it might even start. I clicked on the Toronto Star to find that information so you don't have to. You're fucking welcome. Ryan Wilson, unfortunately, was not so lucky, taking a puck to the face last night. Chambers is reporting the team fears another concussion for him. Really, really sad news for him. Semyon Varlamov is on schedule to backstop the Avalanche.

Avs Lines, maybe

Jamie McGinn - Matt Duchene - Jarome Iginla
Gabe Landeskog - Ryan O'Reilly - Dennis Everberg (or Tangs or Briere)
Alex Tanguay - Nathan MacKinnon - Daniel Briere
Cody McLeod - Marc-Andre Cliche - Max Talbot

Nick Holden - Erik Johnson
Jan Hejda - Tyson Barrie
Brad Stuart - Nate Guenin or Zach Redmond

Semyon Varlamov
(Reto Berra)

John Mitchell (migraines or something)
Jesse Winchester (concussed)
Ryan Wilson (concussed)
Nate Guenin or Zach Redmond (healthy)

Records

Both teams are 1-2-0. Real original, guys.

Leafs people

Pay a visit to Pension Plan Puppets because they rock and stuff and their Twitters are fun. James Mirtle provides intelligent Leafs coverage (even if he does slapfight with Avs fans on Twitter over analytics) and you should never, under any circumstances, do what I did and visit the Toronto Star. Also worth a visit are Justin Fisher, Steve Dangle, Jeffler and company over at Leafs Nation.

How to watch it

:30 game alert!

This one is on at 5:30 mountain, 7:30 eastern, 0:30 GMT on Altitude, TSN-4 in Canada and TV-A in wherever TV-A is. Quebec-ish I think.

:30 game alert!

Colorado have gotten 2 of the 6 points I want from them on this trip. Let's go get two more.