Tuesday night’s performance in Philadelphia was a humble reminder that the Leafs still have a lot of work to do ahead of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
John Tortorella benched three of his veteran players – including his captain Sean Couturier – and his team responded accordingly.
That being said, we kicked off the Wednesday edition of Leafs Morning Take by breaking down the Ryan Reaves/Nicolas Deslauriers fight. It had all the makings of a classic heavyweight tilt, but unfortunately, it really got going.
Here’s Jay Rosehill’s take on the tilt:
Presented by Door Dash, The Appetizer focused on everything surrounding the 4-3 loss to the Flyers. We talked about the slow start, the lack of urgency, & the lack of structure. In fact, Rosey went on another legendary rant comparing the Leafs to a beer league team.
Naturally, the conversation flowed into a talk about accountability and Sheldon Keefe. For the record, he didn’t mince any words about how the team played —even placing blame on Ilya Samsonov. Additionally, we discussed Toronto hitting six posts and the power play finally scoring a goal. Over the past 10 games, the Leafs are a putrid 2-for-27 with the man advantage.
Courtesy the Wendy’s Daily Faceoff Survivor, we previewed the second game of the back-to-back in Washington. Joseph Woll is expected to make his first start in 13 days and Joel Edmundson returns to D.C. for the first time since being dealt to Toronto at the trade deadline. Washington has won three in a row and five of seven.
After that, we took our weekly look at the Atlantic Division standings, brought to you by Charm Diamond Centres. The Leafs seem destined for a first round matchup with either Boston or Florida. Tampa’s only five points back, too.
Meantime, six rule changes were proposed to the NHL’s competition committee & the board of governors ahead of next season. We tackled some of them. Most important, no changes – at least in the foreseeable future – are coming to 3-on-3 OT or the whole LTIR thing (Vegas Golden Knights special). That segment was delivered by Tim Hortons.
Lastly, we got to our Great Clips inbox question of the day. We were asked who we think will start game No. 1 of the playoffs for the Maple Leafs. Rosey went Ilya Samsonov, I went with Joseph Woll.
Join us for the Thursday edition of Leafs Morning Take at 11 AM ET. In addition to recapping Leafs/Caps, Mr. Game 7 Justin Williams, who’s been doing some broadcasting work with Sportsnet, will drop by to dish on what he’s seen from the Maple Leafs lately.
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