It took until the third period of game No. 66 for the Toronto Maple Leafs to show a pulse.

It came at the expense of losing their captain due to injury, though. The Leafs won for the first time since February 3rd, but unfortunately, no one’s talking about that today. Instead, the market’s ablaze with anger, disappointment, and confusion over the team’s handling of Radko Gudas, and most specifically, the captain going down. Obviously, that’s where the conversation started on the Friday edition of Leafs Morning Take as Jay Rosehill was able to weigh in on the entire situation. By the way, Gudas was offered a phone hearing with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety, which means he will get five games or less for that joke of a hit. As expected, Rosey had plenty to say on the matter. Suffice it is to say, he was disgusted by the lack of response. This was just the latest chapter in this team’s inability to answer the bell over the years.

At any rate, we did break down the game a bit, too. Toronto won 6-4 to snap its ugly eight game losing skid. Matthew Knies had a goal and three helpers, the Leafs went 3-for-7 on the power play. Before going down, Matthews ended his 12 game goalless drought, so that was good. Meantime, Michael Pezzetta dropped the gloves one second into his first shift as a Maple Leaf; his childhood team. Bo Groulx looked very solid for the second straight game. The 26-year-old notched his first as a Leaf in 17:41 of ice. Toronto’s won six straight meetings with Anaheim.

After that, we played our interview with Blue Jays hurler Max Scherzer. He was awesome. We talked accountability, competitiveness, and drive. That guy’s so intense. Max took us behind the scenes of ultimately re-signing in Toronto, and of course, he shared the story about his daughter’s letter to Santa. Scherzer said he’s hoping to get to a Leafs game in April, specifically the home date with Alex and the Washington Capitals. He won a World Series with the Nationals in 2019.

That’s going to do it for another week of Leafs Morning take. Join us on Monday (11 AM ET) for a full recap of this weekend’s back-to-back on the road, plus we’ll look ahead to next week’s action.

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