Mike Rupp thinks that the Leafs have a legitimate shot to shock the world this spring: Leafs Morning Take

For the third time in 16 days, the Leafs and Devils will do battle on Thursday night —the second time at Scotiabank Arena.

Back on March 26^th, New Jersey walked out with a 6-3 victory in Toronto. Then, the Leafs responded with a 5-2 win in Newark this past Tuesday night. Effectively, this is the rubber match of the three-game season series.

Jay Rosehill was back in the mix for the Thursday edition of Leafs Morning Take. We kicked off the show by talking about one of Rosey’s favourite topics: The Arizona Coyotes. In case you missed it, based on Frank Seravalli’s reporting, relocation talks to Salt Lake City have picked up in recent days. Finally! Additionally, we also addressed the NHLPA’s annual player poll. Simply put, the Leafs were done dirty. How was Auston Matthews not top-5 in terms of most complete player? Wild stuff.

Presented by DoorDash, the Appetizer focused on everything Rosey’s missed over the past few days or so. We talked about Auston Matthews, Tyler Bertuzzi, Mitch Marner and where the team’s at ahead of their projected first round showdown with the Panthers. Weirdly, it feels like there’s ample reason to be very optimistic about this team with the postseason rapidly approaching.

After that, brought to you by Douglas, NHL Network Analyst Mike Rupp dropped by. For starters, Rupper commended Brad Treliving and company for addressing team toughness. He thinks they’re a different team this season. Furthermore, we covered most of the pertinent topics surrounding the team right now. Rupper even listed off his Hart Trophy frontrunners.

Meantime, courtesy the Wendy’s Daily Faceoff Survivor, we previewed the final meeting with New Jersey. After missing eight games with a lower body injury, Joel Edmundson will return to the lineup. Jake McCabe won’t play for maintenance reasons. Also, Ilya Samsonov will get the call in goal.

Carter Hutton will fill in for Jay Rosehill on the Friday edition of Leafs Morning Take. We’ll recap Leafs/Devils and look ahead to Saturday night’s home date with Detroit. Also, the legendary Marc Crawford, who coached Auston Matthews in Zurich in his draft year, will drop by the show talk about Papi.

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