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Nathan MacKinnon didn’t take long to ponder a potential matchup against Auston Matthews on Saturday night.

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“Hopefully not a lot of goals from him,” the Colorado Avalanche star said after the morning skate at Scotiabank Arena. “He is scoring … he has been doing it his whole career, so it’s nothing new. He looks awesome this year. I have not seen a ton of Leafs games, but every time I turn it on he seems to have two or three.”

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Matthews leads the National Hockey League with 33 goals and the Maple Leafs’ No. 1 centre is a threat to score every time he hits the offensive zone. MacKinnon is second in NHL scoring with 67 points, two behind leader Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The star power, as we know, won’t be limited to Matthews and MacKinnon as the Leafs and Avalanche meet for the first time in 2023-24. William Nylander was fifth in NHL scoring before games on Saturday. Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen, who was leading NHL forwards in ice time, was ninth. Among defencemen, the Avs’ Cale Makar was second in scoring. The Leafs’ Morgan Rielly was 10th.

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The Avalanche will provide a test unlike any the Leafs have seen in recent games, excluding perhaps the Los Angeles Kings on Jan. 2. The Leafs won 3-0 that night, part of a seven-game winless streak that the Kings are riding. 

It’s a different look with Colorado, which starts a five-game trip with six wins in its past seven games. 

“We’re at home we’re feeling good,” Rielly said. “So this is a good challenge for us. These ones are fun. They’re tough. They’re very competitive. But that’s what you want.”

Martin Jones will be in net for the Leafs, who sit third in the Atlantic Division with 50 points. Alexandar Georgiev will start in goal for the Avalanche, which is in second in the Central Division with 57 points.

The Leafs are coming off a 4-3 overtime loss in New York against the Islanders on Thursday, putting an end to their four-game winning streak. The respect for the Leafs emanating from the Avs’ side wasn’t limited to Matthews and his top teammates.
“They have a lot of firepower and have been defending really well,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “Looking at their past 10 games or so, it’s tough to create scoring chances against these guys.”

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In their past six games, the Leafs have given up just two goals during five-on-five play. 

Makar and Georgiev on Saturday afternoon were two of five players named to the NHL all-star game in Toronto on Feb. 3, along with Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers and goalies Sergei Bobrovsky of the Florida Panthers and Jeremy Swayman of the Boston Bruins. 

The remaining seven will be announced prior to the Leafs/Avs game. What would it mean to Rielly, who has never played in the all-star game, to get voted in? His teammates have been pumping up his worth in recent days.

“I don’t want to get too carried away with it,” Rielly said. “My focus is always here. Just having the acknowledgment from my teammates, that’s enough for me.”

The projected Leafs lineup:

FORWARDS

LW-C-RW

Matthew Knies-Auston Matthews-Mitch Marner

Tyler Bertuzzi-John Tavares-William Nylander

Pontus Holmberg-Max Domi-Calle Jarnkrok

Bobby McMann-David Kampf-Noah Gregor

DEFENCE

Morgan Rielly-TJ Brodie

Simon Benoit-Jake McCabe

Timothy Liljegren-Mark Giordano

GOAL

Martin Jones

Ilya Samsonov

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X: @koshtorontosun

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