What a night for Big Papi and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The now three-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner tallied the game winner in the third period, adding two assists as the Leafs salvaged a split in Boston.
Plain and simple, it was another signature playoff moment for one of the top players in the game right now. Full stop.
Carter Hutton filled in for Jay Rosehill on the Tuesday edition of Leafs Morning Take. We kicked off the show by discussing the first few days of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and how great they’ve been. Most importantly, all the Canadian teams participating are off to good starts, so there’s hope in this country —for once. Hell, they rioted in Vancouver after winning Game 1 against Nashville on Sunday night. Some things never change.
Presented by Greta Bar YYZ, we broke down the 3-2 Game 2 victory in Beantown. As mentioned, Auston Matthews was a monster. Additionally, Ilya Samsonov turned in a fantastic performance making 27 stops —including several huge ones to solidify the win in the third period. From there, we discussed Boston’s peculiar decision to start Linus Ullmark and not Jeremy Swayman. Hopefully, it’s a big topic point around Boston over the next 24 hours. Furthermore, the special teams story was a big one, too. The Leafs PP came through in the second period, and on top of that, Toronto killed off a big penalty late in the third. What a dive by Brad Marchand that was. That said, Tyler Bertuzzi should know better than to engage in stuff like that. Any way you slice it, moving forward, the Leafs need to find a way to keep their emotions in check and stay out of the box.
Meantime, we discussed the curious case of Mitch Marner. Once again, the star winger has struggled through two outings against Boston. If the Leafs are going to win this series, they need the 26-year-old to carry his weight. Thankfully, there’s still plenty of time in the series for Marner to prove his worth.
After that, thanks to our friends over at Charm Diamond Centres, Hutts weighed in on the whole William Nylander situation. By the story, the situation is getting weirder and weirder. Here’s hoping that the 40 goal scorer can return to the lineup for Game 3 on Wednesday night. He’s been missed —that’s for sure.
Jay Rosehill will be back in the mix for the Wednesday edition of Leafs Morning Take. Join us as we preview Game 3 at Scotiabank Arena.
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