Calvin Pickard To Make Maple Leafs Debut In Denver

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December 29, 2017 (4:00 PM)

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"Toronto Maple Leafs 47 pts (23-14-1)
@
Colorado Avalanche 37 (17-16-3)
9 p.m. ET
Pepsi Center � Denver, CO
TV: Sportsnet Ontario
Radio: TSN 1050 AM

Season Series/Schedule
Date Game GWG
12/29 TOR @ COL
1/22 COL @ TOR

Team Leaders
Maple Leafs Avalanche
Marner/Matthews, 29 Points Nathan MacKinnon, 40
James van Riemsdyk, 16 Goals Nathan MacKinnon, 15
Mitch Marner, 24 Assists Nathan MacKinnon, 25

The Toronto Maple Leafs are back at it in Denver tonight after a 7-4 win at the Arizona Coyotes last night. The Avalanche are coming with 2-2-1 record over their last five games including a 3-1 loss to the Coyotes their last time out on Wednesday.
Curtis McElhinney was scheduled to start tonight's game, but he will be held out with a lower-body injury. The Maple Leafs recalled Calvin Pickard from the AHL this morning and he is expected to be in net. This will be his first game for the Maple Leafs after making all of his previous 86 NHL appearances with Colorado. Pickard is 10-5-0 with a 2.20 goals-against average, a .919 save percentage and three shutouts for the Toronto Marlies this season.
Nazem Kadri left last night's game after taking an elbow to the head and is questionable for tonight's contest. Mike Babcock didn't think the injury was too serious and thought he might return versus Arizona, but the medical staff thought otherwise. We are going to assume that he is held out against the Avs.
The Maple Leafs are 6-2-2 in their last 10 games versus Colorado.

Probable Maple Leafs Lineup
FORWARDS
Zach Hyman- Auston Matthews- William Nylander
Leo Komarov- Patrick Marleau- Connor Brown
James van Riemsdyk- Tyler Bozak- Mitch Marner
Matt Martin- Dominic Moore- Josh Leivo
DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
Morgan Rielly- Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner- Connor Carrick
Andreas Borgman- Roman Polak
GOALTENDER
Calvin Pickard (first start of the season)
INJURY REPORT
LW-Joffrey Lupul (sports hernia) out, RW-Nikita Soshnikov (lower-body) out, D-Nikita Zaitsev (lower-body) out, G-Curtis McElhinney (lower-body) out

Probable Avalanche Lineup
FORWARDS
Gabriel Landeskog- Nathan MacKinnon- Mikko Rantanen
Alexander Kerfoot- Tyson Jost- Nail Yakupov
Sven Andrighetto- JT Compher- Colin Wilson
Blake Comeau- Carl Soderberg- Matt Nieto
DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
Nikita Zadorov- Erik Johnson
Patrik Nemeth- Mark Barberio
Samuel Girard- Anton Lindholm
GOALTENDER
Semyon Varlamov (12-9-2, 22.94 GAA, .909 save %, 1 SO)
INJURY REPORT
LW-Vladislav Kamenev (arm) out, D-Tyson Barrie (hand) out"

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