Another night, another measuring stick game for the Toronto Maple Leafs ahead of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Sheldon Keefe and company are getting set to host Jon Cooper’s Lightning squad, a team Toronto will play twice over the course of their final eight regular season contests.
Jay Rosehill was back in the mix for the Wednesday edition of Leafs Morning Take. We kicked off the show by discussing and dissecting the up-to-date Atlantic Division standings, brought to you by our friends over at Charm Diamond Centres. The Panthers lost again on Tuesday night, which means the Leafs are four points back of Florida with two games in hand for second in the Atlantic Division. Just how we all saw it going down.
Presented by DoorDash, in the Appetizer, we went over the latest news and notes from the morning skate. Firstly, to the surprise of many, Joel Edmundson was on the ice. He won’t play, but it sounds like Saturday night in Montreal could be a target date for him. Furthermore, it appears Mitch Marner will likely return to the lineup in that game, too. Also, after missing four games with an upper body injury, Morgan Reilly is set to make his return. The Leafs went 3-1-0 in his absence. That said, they failed to score a PP goal (0-for-10) in that time frame.
After that, courtesy the Wendy’s Daily Faceoff Survivor, we previewed the third of four meetings against the Lightning. Toronto has taken the first two meetings —both in OT. Joseph Woll will start. In four career appearances vs. Tampa, the 25-year-old’s 3-0-0 with a 1.70 goals-against average and an .949 save percentage. The Leafs are six points up on the Bolts for third in the Atlantic Division. Both teams have played 74 games.
Meantime, thanks to Douglas, we welcomed in former Leaf/TSN Hockey Analyst Jeff O’Neill for his second visit of the season. We touched on everything from Sheldon Keefe’s constant line juggling to Auston Matthews’ pursuit of 70 goals to where to deploy Mitch Marner when he returns. Par for the course, O-Dog was unreal.
Lastly, for the Great Clips inbox question of the week, we talked about what the third line could look like if Keefe elects not to reunite Marner and Matthews right away.
Make a note to join us for the Thursday edition of Leafs Morning Take. We’ll recap Leafs/Lightning. Also, legendary Canadian news anchor Peter Mansbridge will join us for a chat.
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