The Battle of Ontario hasn’t been much of a battle lately, has it?
It was another tough night at the office for Craig Berube and company. He was barking —that’s for sure.
All in all, it’s important to have some perspective —at least I’m electing to go that route. Any way you slice it, the Leafs went 3-1-0 on a four-game home stand without their captain and best player in the lineup. I’ll take it.
Meantime, it appears that aside from Sidney Crosby, Kyle Dubas and the Penguins are reportedly open to listening on anyone. Naturally, that got us thinking about the Leafs and if it’s possible for them to hook up on a potential trade with their former general manager. That’s where the conversation started on the Wednesday edition of Leafs Morning Take.
Courtesy of Prime Video, we recapped the ugly 3-0 loss to the rival Ottawa Senators. Simply put, you could tell from the get-go that the Leafs had nothing. Far and away, once again, Anthony Stolarz was Toronto’s top player making 40 saves in the loss. First and foremost, Ottawa deserves a lot of credit. They looked super good. Additionally, the Leafs played their all too familiar rope a dope styler made familiar under Sheldon Keefe. They had no jump, drive, and urgency all night long, and it started quickly after a Nylander turnover ended in a Josh Norris goal 41 seconds into the hockey game. Simply put, it was an ugly night. No need to hyper-analyze things.
At any rate, brought to you by Charm Diamond Centres, 2018 Stanley Cup champion and current Washington Capitals TV Analyst Devante Smith-Pelly dropped by the show. He’s a big Leafs fan. He touched on the Ottawa game, Toronto’s power play, Ovechkin’s chase of Gretzky, and if the Leafs have what it takes to go all the way this season.
After that, we previewed the second half of the back-to-back in Washington. Of note, Joseph Woll will start in goal and Jani Hakanpaa will make his Maple Leafs debut.
Speaking of which, we’ll break it all down on the Thursday edition of Leafs Morning Take (11 AM ET). Talk then!
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