Peter Mansbridge thinks his beloved Maple Leafs could be poised for a long playoff run: Leafs Morning Take

And so, the Leafs will have to wait a little bit longer to clinch a playoff spot.

Full credit to Tampa. Jon Cooper’s squad came ready to play on Wednesday night at Scotiabank Arena.

We kicked off the Thursday edition of Leafs Morning Take by dissecting fight night in the NHL. Firstly, Rosey broke down the line brawl to start the game at Madison Square Garden between the Rangers and the Devils. Old school hockey at its finest. Secondly, Rosey dissected the scrap in the Leafs game between Ryan Reaves and Tanner Jeannot. The legend of Ryan Reaves continues to grow in this market!

Presented by DoorDash, in the Appetizer, we discussed the various talking points associated with Toronto’s 4-1 loss to the Bolts. Andrei Vasilevskiy, who’s already a sure-fire future Hockey Hall of Famer, was outstanding making 28 saves. On the contrary, it was another tough outing for Joseph Woll. The 25-year-old, who surrendered a first shot goal for the third time in his past four outings, was beaten four times on 26 shots. That said, there were some positives to grab as well: Auston Matthews potted No. 63, the Leafs scored a PP goal in Morgan Rielly’s return, and the PK has now killed off 18 straight penalties. On top of all that, the Domi-Matthews-Bertuzzi trio had another strong game, and the fourth line (Dewar-Kampf-Reaves) did their thing again, too.

On to Montreal for Sheldon Keefe and company.

Meantime, thanks to Douglas, legendary Canadian news anchor Peter Mansbridge dropped by the show. The 75-year-old is a giant Leafs fan, so naturally we spent most of the interview breaking down the team and getting his thoughts on the upcoming Stanley Cup Playoffs. Spoiler: Mansbridge is cautiously optimistic about this team.

Carter Hutton will step in for Jay Rosehill on the Friday edition of Leafs Morning Take. We’ll spend a good chunk of the show teeing up Saturday night’s tilt in Montreal. It sounds like Mitch Marner and Joel Edmundson could be back in the lineup for that one. Also, Rosey and I had a chance to catch up with Boston University defender Cade Webber, who the Leafs traded for from Carolina at the deadline. We’ll drop that interview, too.