The Leafs have 18 games left to put it all together: Leafs Morning Take

The stretch drive to the Stanley Cup Playoffs is here!

Incredibly, the Leafs are coming off their first regulation victory against an Eastern Conference opponent over the weekend since December 23^rd. How’s that even possible? It’s been that type of season for Sheldon Keefe and company.

Bizarre.

We kicked off the Monday edition of Leafs Morning Take by discussing the Nick Robertson recall from the AHL. Somewhat surprisingly, the 22-year-old wasn’t traded ahead of the deadline, and without question, he could still play a big-time role for Toronto down the stretch here. Also, speaking of the AHL, courtesy Tim Hortons, Jay Rosehill dissected the whole Kyle Clifford/Joseph Duszak melee from over the weekend.

Presented by Door Dash, The Appetizer focused on the 3-2 win in Montreal on Saturday night. Max Domi notched a goal and an assist while John Tavares’ 20^th of the campaign stood as the game winner. The Leafs improved to 2-0-0 against the Habs this season and 19-7-6 on the road overall. Of note, both Joel Edmundson and Connor Dewar, who were acquired ahead of the trade deadline, made their Maple Leaf debut. We discussed where those two potentially could fit in the lineup moving forward. Once again, the goaltending was a point of emphasis, too. Ilya Samsonov made 29 stops to improve to 12-3-0 since his January 10^th recall. He’s been an incredible story —that’s for sure.

 

Thanks to Douglas, we continued to pick apart the pieces from Friday. Most specifically, we broke down what Brad Treliving had to say in his press conference. Similar to last season, the onus was placed firmly on the players —especially the big boys. We’re just six weeks away from finding out if this team’s any different than previous ones.

Additionally, brought to you by the Wendy’s Daily Faceoff Survivor, we previewed Toronto’s light two-game slate this week. They’ll be in Philadelphia on Thursday night before hosting the new-look Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night. Only 18 regular season games remain! Wild.

Be sure to join us for the Tuesday edition of Leafs Morning Take as we discuss the latest from Leafs practice ahead of Thursday night’s tilt against the Flyers. Also, former Leaf Mikhail Grabovski will make his first ever appearance on the show.