Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET, two unbeaten teams collide as the Colorado Avalanche (2-0-0) and Toronto Maple Leafs (3-0-0) take the ice for a clash at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. The game can be live streamed here. Colorado fans can hear all the action on KRWZ-AM while Toronto fans can do the same on Sportsnet 590 The FAN.
The Leafs are unsurprised by their fast start after a thrilling season last year that saw the team earn the No. 5 seed in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, while the Avalanche have definitely been an early surprise after finishing dead last in the Western Conference last season. These two teams battle each other for the first time in nearly two years tonight.
The Avalanche have been outscoring their opponents in a big way to start the campaign, as the team has scored nine goals while goaltender Semyon Varlamov is 2-0 and has only allowed two goals while stopping 61 of 63 shots. Varlamov is coming off of a season where he went 11-21-3 in 35 games with a 3.02 GAA and a .903 save percentage, so his fast start is an encouraging improvement during the young season.
The Avalanche routed the Anaheim Ducks 6-1 in the controversial season opener that almost saw both coaches come to blows, and then Colorado beat the Nashville Predators 3-1 in the second game of the season. Tonight will be the first road test of the season for Colorado.
Colorado is playing a very up-tempo game under first-year head coach Patrick Roy, which has led the team to outscoring its opponents 9-2. The Avalanche were able to avoid a serious injury concern when young team captain Gabriel Landeskog, 20, injured his leg in the season opener, but was eventually ruled fit to return.
The native of Sweden was held out of the team's second game as a precaution. Last year, he scored nine goals and registered eight assists for 17 points during the lockout-shortened season, just one year after he went 22-30-52 in his rookie campaign.
"We just wanted to make sure that we were on the safe side with this one," Landeskog told the team's website of the minor injury. "So early in the season, there is no point to risking anything now. It was just a minor little thing so we made sure we took care of it right away."
Toronto has been booming to start the season, having netted 11 non-shootout goals in its first three games of the season--all victories--over the Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers and Ottawa Senators.
Mason Raymond, who was invited to Leafs camp on a professional tryout, made the club and has been very successful so far in the early going with two goals and four points through the first three games after signing a one-year deal with Toronto off of the tryout.
Toronto's newest goalie addition has been solid in between the pipes as well as Jonathan Bernier has made one start and one relief appearance and has stopped 46 of 47 shots faced, though James Reimer has allowed seven goals in two games.
David Clarkson, who Toronto signed in the offseason out of free agency, still has to serve seven games for the 10-game ban he received for leaving the bench during a brawl in the preseason, so he will once again be missing from Toronto's lineup. Clarkson scored 30 goals just two years ago for the New Jersey Devils.
Nathan MacKinnon, the No.1 overall pick in the 2013 NHL Draft has had a solid start to his career, putting up three assists in his first two games.
Two undefeated teams square off but one has to lose when the Avalanche and Maple Leafs hit the ice tonight in Toronto.
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