Bozak could miss "homecoming" when Leafs visit Avalanche

Tyler Bozak is supposed to enjoy a homecoming of sorts when his Toronto Maple Leafs play at the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night.

Bozak played two seasons with the University of Denver Pioneers, located a few miles from Pepsi Center, before signing with Toronto.

His return to his college roots is tainted by injury. Bozak missed Monday's game against Anaheim with a lower-body injury that could keep him out of Thursday's matchup with Colorado. He didn't take part in practice Wednesday in Denver and his status for the game is uncertain.

Toronto's Center Ben Smith will not play. The team announced he will be out indefinitely after having surgery on his hand. Smith missed Monday's game with what was called an upper-body injury. The Maple Leafs (12-12-7) recalled Frederick Gauthier from the Toronto Marlies of the AHL and the center might be in the lineup Thursday with Smith now ruled out.

Toronto may not need Bozak or Smith to get by the reeling Avalanche (11-19-1). Colorado lost four straight games overall and six in a row at home. The Avalanche are last in the NHL with 23 points and are struggling to score. They had only one goal in their just-completed two-game road trip, a cosmetic goal at the end of a 4-1 loss in Winnipeg on Sunday.

It has left the once-dominant franchise scrambling for answers as the relatively young season is slipping away.

In a 2-0 loss at Minnesota on Tuesday, the Avalanche managed 18 shots and only two on five power plays. They were shut out for the sixth time in 20 total losses.

"We're not getting enough shots on net," leading scorer Matt Duchene told reporters after the loss to the Wild. "That's just not good enough offensively. You've got to create stuff to get shots ... it's not going to be the perfect play that goes in every time. It has to be some gritty ones, too, and we're not getting that."

Even with a young, talented core, Colorado is struggling under first-year coach Jared Bednar. While he tries to get the offense going, the Avalanche must stop Auston Matthews, the 19-year-old star of Toronto. Matthews, the first overall pick in the 2016 draft, leads the Maple Leafs with 15 goals after getting one in the 3-2 loss to the Ducks.

He started the season with a four-goal outburst on opening night and has proven worthy of being the No. 1 pick.

"I feel comfortable going up against anybody," Matthews told The Toronto Globe and Mail. "It's not really up to me who I play against."

More of the burden will fall on Matthews if Bozak can't play. Toronto is fighting to stay in reach of a playoff position in the highly competitive Eastern Conference.

For Colorado, the playoffs may already be out of reach only 31 games into the season. The Avalanche were 9-9 at one point but have earned only five points in their last 13 games and need a dramatic turnaround to even make a postseason push.

It can start with a win against Toronto before the league goes on hiatus for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but for now the Avalanche have forgotten how to win.

"We've lost four in a row," goaltender Semyon Varlamov told The Denver Post. "It's embarrassing."