With a win tonight in Game 4 of the Battle of Ontario, the Toronto Maple Leafs can advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for just the second time since 2003-04.

Carter Hutton and I got together for a special Saturday edition of Leafs Morning Take as we wrapped our coverage from Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa.

We kicked off the show by looking back a bit at Game 3 and discussing some of the unsung heroes. He hasn’t been around for our shows, so I had Hutts weigh in on what he’s seen in the series thus far. Most specially, he broke the crease. Unsurprisingly, he had a lot of great things to say about Anthony Stolarz’s red-hot run. On the other side of the spectrum, he thinks Linus Ullmark, who he’s good friends with dating back to their time in Buffalo together, has been so-so through the first three games of the series. Clearly, the crease is a big reason why the Leafs are in control of matters right now.

After that, we touched on the job Craig Berube’s done. From our vantage point, there’s been a level of professionalism that we haven’t seen in recent seasons. This team looks confident but not cocky. Additionally, they’ve looked very prepared and controlled in the way they’ve been playing. Very structured —if you will. To that point, the Core Four has still done their thing combining for 19 points. On top of that, the power play’s 5-for-9. You put that all together and that’s all you need to know about how we got here.

At any rate, presented by the Ninja Crispi 4-in-1 Portable Glass Air Fryer, the one and only Kyle Bukauskas dropped by the set for a one-on-one with me. We talked about his career, his hair, and who would play him in a movie. Additionally, he weighed in on the first three games of the series and what’s it been like covering the games from a broadcasting standpoint. We even talked about if he sees any differences in covering the Leafs from previous seasons to this one.

Win or lose, we’ll be back in the mix for the Monday edition of Leafs Morning Take (11 AM ET) to offer up a full breakdown of Game 4. We’ll either be looking ahead to Game 5 or getting prepped for Round 2. We’ll see what happens tonight. Go Leafs Go!

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