Brad Marchand’s losing his touch.
For the second straight outing against Toronto this year, the long-time Bruins captain had some troll-job comments backfire on him.
After kicking off the day supplying candid commentary for the Toronto media regarding the current state of the Leafs and how the fans handled Mitch Marner, the 37-year-old winger was forced to leave Tuesday night’s game after two periods due to a nagging injury. He wasn’t making much of a difference anyway as the Leafs smothered the Panthers 4-1 —just like they did back in early December in Sunrise.
Indisputably, the night belonged to Auston Matthews, who was honoured before the game for passing Mats Sundin for the franchise lead in goals. That’s where the conversation started on the Wednesday edition of Leafs Morning Take as David Pagnotta filled in for Jay Rosehill. All in all, we thought it was a nice touch for Sundin to make the trip across the pond for Matthews’ big night. Talk about passing the torch!
Suffice it is to say, we had a lot of good things to say in our game recap. Since firing Marc Savard, the Leafs are 5-0-2. Furthermore, they’ve scored three goals or more in six of those seven contests. On top of all that, Toronto’s been lights out at Scotiabank Arena this season. They’ve won six in a row on home ice, and through 25 outings there, they’re 15-5-5. Joseph Woll improved to 6-0-1 on home ice and 7-1-1 in his last nine decisions. The penalty kill was outstanding again going 3-for-3. They’ve now killed off 31 of 34 penalties since December 1st. On that topic, we were trying to figure out how Eetu Luostarinen got away with that hit from behind on Scott Laughton. Entering the night, believe it or not, Florida had possessed 52 more power play opportunities than Toronto. What a wild stat. Both have now played 42 games. At any rate, it was good to see Brandon Carlo back in the lineup after missing 23 games due to foot surgery. He looked very solid. As did Matthew Knies, who’s now up to five goals and eight points since the mini three-day holiday break.
After that, NHL analyst, podcaster, and former NHLer Jason Demers dropped by for a visit to chime in on Toronto’s impressive victory over Florida. He dished on the Leafs’ hot surge since canning Marc Savard. Additionally, he hit on Matthews’ red-hot play, Toronto’s unheralded penalty kill, and what it was like playing against Matthew Knies at the 2022 Olympics. Lastly, Demers talked about the Leafs’ ability to step up recently without William Nylander, who’s missed the past five games.
Jay Rosehill will be back in the mix for Thursday’s show as we preview Scott Laughton’s return to Philadelphia. Meantime, Carlo Colaiacovo, who just like Rosey was teammates with Laughton in Philadelphia, is slated to drop by the show for another appearance.
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