At last, we’ve reached game No. 82 of the season.
Manifesting a competitive game with no injuries.
Needless to say, we didn’t spend much time teeing up the Leafs/Wings game on the Thursday edition of Leafs Morning Take. Instead, the final episode of the week acted as an all-encompassing Battle of Ontario preview. As we’ve been talking about all week, Game 1 is slated for Sunday night in Toronto. Ottawa has won 5 straight meetings with the Leafs and six of seven. They swept the season series 3-0 —outscoring Toronto 8-3.
Brought to you by Sobeys, in the opening segment, we turned back the clock to the Pat Quinn era as Jonas Hoglund dropped by the show. The former Leaf, who was a participant in several Battle of Ontario postseason matchups, weighed in on the fifth installment, which again, will get underway on Sunday. Additionally, he dished on playing for Pat Quinn, and if he sees any of the Hall-of-Famer in current Leaf head coach Craig Berube. Also, Hoglund shared his series prediction.
After that, we talked more about the series. Al in all, the goaltending matchup will be fascinating. We know Linus Ullmark will go for Ottawa. On the other side, even though they haven’t made it official, Anthony Stolarz will undoubtedly get the call in Game 1. Over his past eight starts, the 31-year-old’s 8-0-0 with a .950 save percentage and three shutouts.
Meantime, the matchup game will be fascinated. That’s something we talked a lot about with NHL coach/two-time Stanley Cup champion Derek Lalonde, courtesy Charm Diamond Centres. On top of that, Newsie talked a lot about approach and what strategies he would look to employ against Brady Tkachuk. The coaching nerd really came out of him in this interview. He was awesome.
To wrap, we got to the CRISPI HOT TAKE OF THE DAY, presented by the Ninja Crispi 4-in-1 Portable Glass Air Fryer. Producer Vick think the Leafs will sweep away the Ottawa Senators. That’s a spicy one —for sure.
Again, no show on Good Friday. Leafs Morning Take will return on Monday at 11 AM ET. David Pagnotta will be in for Jay Rosehill. Join us for a full reaction to Game 1 as well as a look ahead to Tuesday’s Game 2.
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