Will the real Toronto Maple Leafs please stand up?
Following their ugly 6-3 loss to Minnesota on Monday Night to kick off their pivotal five game homestand, it will be interesting to see how the Leafs respond against Detroit. It will be the fourth and final meeting with Todd McLellan’s upstart Red Wings team, who’ve taken all three previous meetings (0-2-1) with Toronto. That’s right, the only point the Leafs have grabbed in the season series thus far came in a hard-fought 3-2 OT loss at Little Caesars Arena back on December 28th. Moral of the story: They NEED this one bad. In regulation, too.
Meantime, we debated when we’ll see Anthony Stolarz play in a game for the Maple Leafs again. On Tuesday, he was sent to the Marlies (AHL) for a conditioning stint. According to several reports, this move was made more to get him some extra practice time as opposed to getting him some game reps. It will be fascinating to see if and when he’s available to get in there. After this game with Detroit, the Leafs will have seven games remaining before the Olympic break. After that, it will be a sprint to the trade deadline on March 6th. Speaking of which, on Tuesday, TSN’s Darren Dreger once again linked the Leafs, among a few other squads, to Calgary’s Nazem Kadri. We debated the probability of that actually coming to fruition. Yeah, we’re not banking on it.
Then, we got into a full game preview. Joseph Will, who’s surrendered 5+ goals in back-to-back games, will get the call. Matthew Knies, who missed practice on Tuesday, will play. Toronto’s 9-2-3 since moving on from Marc Savard. This is a big game in the standings. They’re eight points back of Detroit with one game in hand. Additionally, Auston Matthews is on complete fire, so that bodes well for a Leafs team who direly needs a win. The Leafs captain has 11 goals in his past 12 outings. No Nylander again. Toronto’s 7-3-2 without him this season.
To wrap, former Maple Leafs and Detroit draft pick Shawn Matthias stopped by the show. He started by offering a player’s perspective on how teams reset after an ugly loss, using Toronto’s rough outing against Minnesota as a jumping-off point. He broke down why the dreaded first game back after a road trip is such a challenge for players and how teams mentally regroup. The Mississauga native also reflected on living out a lifelong dream with the Maple Leafs during the 2015–16 season, admitting he would have stayed in Toronto for 20 years if he could have. Matthias had some good stuff on Babcock, too. Part of the last-place Leafs team that ultimately drafted Auston Matthews first overall — and also a member of the Panthers squad that landed Aleksander Barkov — Matthias had some fun joking about his role in helping franchises secure generational talent. He wrapped up the conversation by weighing in on the Leafs’ playoff chances and sharing his thoughts on former teammates Morgan Rielly and Nazem Kadri.
Coming up on the Thursday edition of Leafs Morning Take, we’ll recap Leafs/Red Wings. Also, TSN’s Mike Masters will stop by to weigh in on that one as well as look ahead to Mitch Marner’s return to Toronto.
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