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Published Jan 11, 2026 • Last updated 1 day ago • 4 minute read
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Auston Matthews versus Nathan MacKinnon is the marquee matchup when the Maple Leafs open a four-game western swing on Monday in Denver against the Avalanche. Photo by Christopher Katsarov /THE CANADIAN PRESSArticle content
When number-crunching nerds assess the degree of difficulty by strength of schedule, they had this trip in mind when dimming the Maple Leafs playoff odds.
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Winding west through Colorado, Utah and Las Vegas, this week includes the respective league runaway leaders, the top club in the Pacific Division (with its noted ex-Leaf) and another wild-card threat that has won three straight. And the Winnipeg Jets, with back-to-back wins, may have woken up and could tame Toronto — 6-10-2 on the road this season — by the time it drives through Portage and Main on the way home.
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Our game-by-game breakdown of this week’s games:
Monday, Leafs at Colorado (33-4-7), 10 p.m. EST
From an all-systems-go 5-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday, bringing their record to 22-17-5, the Leafs draw the best regular-season juggernaut in five decades on Monday. The Avalanche’s plus-83 goal differential through its first 44 games is the highest since the heyday of Wayne Gretzky’s Oilers in 1983-84.
With their envious home record of 19-0-2, this likely spells the end of Toronto’s nine-game points streak, after it fought within one point of finally gaining its own wild-card position.
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“A really good test for us,” said understated Leafs coach Craig Berube. “All aspects of our game will be important, defending well and special teams.”
Who does Berube circle first on the whiteboard of Avs lines for this game? Or just all of them?
Nathan MacKinnon is the NHL goal leader with 36, the Avs occupy six of the seven top places in league plus/minus, Cale Makar tops all defencemen in points and goalie Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood hold the best goals-against averages.
Match Game: Auston Matthews vs. Nathan MacKinnon
When Matthews faced Connor McDavid of the Oilers last month, the co-league points leader with MacKinnon, it was no contest. Matthews has upped his game considerably since and this might even be an Olympic preview in Milan if Canada and the U.S. advance.
Tuesday, Leafs at Utah (22-20-3), 10 p.m. EST
Toronto’s first game against the re-named Mammoth will have zero preparation on the back-to-back. Like the Leafs, Utah has coalesced since Christmas to stay in playoff contention and has allowed the third-fewest shots in the league per game (25.4) prior to playing Columbus on Sunday.
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Expect Dennis Hildeby in net after Joseph Woll faces the Avs and if the lineup versus the Avs stays the same as Vancouver, there’ll likely be a change on forward or defence with Calle Jarnkrok or Philippe Myers.
Match Game: Winger Matias Maccelli vs. Utah coach Andre Tourigny
Maccelli spent 224 games in Utah and before that with the Arizona Coyotes. He was a mid-season scratch last year as Tourigny challenged him to be a better two-way player, something Berube did as well, benching Maccelli before he hit stride in recent games.
The Finn, who was acquired for a third-round pick in June, has just been promoted to the first power-play unit, further boosting his ego.
“I played with most of those guys for four years,” Maccelli said of his return. “It will be fun to go back, but there’s no friends out there now.”
Thursday, Leafs at Las Vegas (20-11-12), 9:30 p.m. EST
Here’s the game that Mitch Marner’s supporters and detractors have eyed since the schedule came out, though his bigger Bay Street homecoming won’t be until the following week.
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But its impact on playoff seedings for each club should take real precedence. The Knights play the Sharks and Kings on the road before Toronto arrives and as a back-to-back for Marner’s club, don’t expect the Toronto franchise’s sixth-leading scorer providing much pre-game print about why things soured at the end of his hometown tenure.
The Leafs can’t ignore Jack Eichel or Mark Stone among the six Knights who’ve scored in double figures. Meanwhile, centre Nicolas Roy’s yeoman work for the Leafs as a return on the Marner trade is a good story, too.
Match Game: Marner vs. Max Domi
Domi is Marner’s successor as first-line right winger, though it did take Berube quite a while to settle on him and maybe it’s not permanent.
Marner has 17 points in his past 13 games, but scant power-play production of late, while Toronto’s top unit laboured through the first half without him. Regardless of what happens in both reunion games, playoffs for both clubs would better evaluate the Marner factor.
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Saturday, Leafs at Winnipeg (16-22-5), 7 p.m. EST
The Jets’ 11-game losing streak, including 6-5 to the Leafs on New Year’s Day in a dramatic third-period collapse, is now a two-game winning streak and plays in Minnesota before the Leafs arrive, both teams getting a full day off to prepare for this.
Mark Scheifele scored twice against the Kings and is up to 22 goals, but that previous skid and the large gap opened by Colorado, Dallas and Minnesota in the Central Division might already have doomed the Jets.
Match Game: Connor Hellebuyck vs. William Nylander
Both didn’t play the last time as Matthews beat up on Eric Comrie with a hat trick, and Nylander was hurt. The much-decorated Hellebuyck, Matthews’ Team USA Olympic mate, must prove on his record of 8-10-3 record versus Toronto, with a .904 save percentage.
lhornby@postmedia.com
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