We’re about to find out how hot the red-hot Maple Leafs actually are.
That’s because Craig Berube and company are in Denver, set to kick off their crucial four-game road trip against the NHL-leading Colorado Avalanche. Through 44 outings this season, Colorado, led by Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, who are clear front runners for the Hart and Norris Trophies, have lost just 11 games. Wild, right? Colorado’s 33-4-7, and unsurprisingly, they’re currently on pace to notch the best regular season record in league history. That’s all that’s standing in the way of the Maple Leafs and a potential eighth win in ten games. Anything’s possible, though. Both Florida and Tampa have beaten the Avalanche in the past two weeks. We’ll see how it goes.
At any rate, we kicked off the Monday edition of Leafs Morning Take with a vibe check. Over the weekend, the Leafs extended their point streak to nine games (7-0-2), a string of games they direly needed to get back into the Eastern Conference playoff picture. The work’s far from done, but there’s doubt Toronto’s found their game since the holiday break.
A big chunk of the first block of the show was dedicated to recapping what happened against Vancouver. William Nylander tallied three points – two goals, one assist – and Joseph Woll made 29 stops for his second shutout of the season en route to a 5-0 beatdown of the lowly Vancouver Canucks. Toronto went 2-for-4 on the power play and 6-for-6 on the penalty kill. Suffice it is to say, they’ve figured out their special teams situation over the past little while. Additionally, Max Domi netted his second goal in the past 32 games but it was his spirited tilt against Marcus Pettersson that got us going. Collectively, the team’s been playing with so much passion, dedication, urgency and purpose. It’s hard to believe when you look back to the first 35 or so games of the season. Scott Laughton continued his dominance in the face-off circle. He’s now won 36 of his past 42 draws. Without question, if the Leafs have any chance of winning against Colorado, they need to stay out of the box. Our only negative from the Canucks game was the lack of discipline, which included a pair of first period too many men penalties.
After that, we took a stroll down memory lane as former Leaf Kyle Wellwood stopped by the show. Firstly, he dished on what he’s been up to. Kyle lives in Vancouver now and he’s not as invested in hockey as he once was. He’s an author and really into books. Additionally, he loves to cook. Additionally, he dished on what he remembers about his time in Toronto and what it was like to play with Mats Sundin. To that point, he hit on Auston Matthews, too, who just passed Sundin for top spot on the Leafs’ all-time goal list. In his time as a Leaf, Wellwood played for both Pat Quinn and Paul Maurice, so he reflected on those two experiences. Lastly, we discussed the media scrutiny, and how different it was to play in Toronto as opposed to other markets he played in. Wellwood also gave a player’s perspective as to why the current team has seemed to find its footing after firing an assistant coach.
To wrap, we gave some final thoughts on the big game in Denver. The Leafs are 6-10-2 on the road, Colorado has a goal different of plus-80. They’re 18-0-2 at Ball Arena this season. Yeah, this should be a fun one. We’re expecting a lot of offence!
Be sure to join us for the Tuesday edition of Leafs Morning Take for a full recap of Leafs/Avs. Also, we’ll look ahead to the second half of Toronto’s back-to-back as Matias Maccelli makes his return to Utah.
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