The Leafs deserve a lot of credit for weathering the storm without Morgan Rielly in the lineup: Leafs Morning Take

The Toronto Maple Leafs are now 4-0-0 since Morgan Rielly got suspended.

Could that prove to be the defining moment in their season? Only time will tell, but so far so good. They’re playing very well.

We kicked off the Tuesday edition of Leafs Morning Take by discussing the general mood around the team right now. It’s amazing how quickly things can change in this market. A week ago, the sky was falling. Now, everyone’s feeling good. And rightfully so. Additionally, we talked about what’s taking so long with the Morgan Rielly appeal. The two sides met on Friday. It’s now Tuesday. Bizarre.

Presented by Door Dash, The Appetizer focused on Toronto’s impressive 4-2 victory in St. Louis to start off its four-game road trip. Talk about variety. The Leafs scored a power play goal, a short-handed goal, an even strength goal, and then capped things off with an empty netter. Auston Matthews notched No. 49 while Ilya Samsonov made 19 saves to improve to 7-2-0 since being recall from the AHL. So much meat on the bone.

After that, thanks to Douglas, we talked about the red-hot power play. Furthermore, Sheldon Keefe kept Tyler Bertuzzi on PP1 on Monday afternoon, which meant John Tavares, who returned from missing Saturday night’s game, skated on the second power play unit. Sticking with the line juggling theme, we broke down the latest lines. The top nine was all jumbled up. Once again, they’ve tried pretty much every combination at this point.

Courtesy of Great Clips, we then circled back to the Morgan Rielly situation. The sample size is small, but the Leafs look like they’re turning a corner. It makes no sense. This is what this team does, though. Dating back to last season, they’re 19-2-1 without Rielly in the lineup and 37-15-5 all-time. Explain that, please.

 

Lastly, Charm Diamond Centres sponsored our final segment. The Leafs have three games remaining on their four-game road trip. They have a back-to-back in Arizona and Vegas on Wednesday and Thursday before visiting Colorado on Saturday night to conclude the trip.

Join us at 11 AM ET on Wednesday as we preview Leafs/Coyotes.