Once again, the Leafs and Blue Jays are set to play a game in October on the same day.
The bats showed up in a big way on Wednesday night as the Blue Jays clobbered Seattle in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series to cut their series deficit to 2-1. 41-year-old Max Scherzer, who guested on Leafs Morning Take this past spring, will get the ball in Game 4.
That’s where the conversation started on the Thursday edition of Leafs Morning Take. Additionally, we discussed Ottawa’s ugly new third jerseys and the state of play around the NHL through the first week of the regular season.
After that, we previewed the third of five in a row at Scotiabank Arena for the Maple Leafs. Igor Shesterkin and the New York Rangers are in town. Toronto went 2-1-0 against New York last season. All in all, we billed this one as a potential goalie duel with Anthony Stolarz countering Igor Shesterkin. Steven Lorentz will be a healthy scratch as Craig Berube will go with the same lineup that smothered Nashville back on Tuesday night. Meantime, William Nylander missed the morning skate due to maintenance, but according to the head coach, everything’s a-okay and the star winger will play in this game. We’re looking for the power play to get cooking. Through four outings, the Leafs are a dreadful 0-for-8 with the man-advantage.
Then, former Maple Leaf Bryan Berard stopped by the show. To start, he dished on Easton Cowan and what advice he would give the 20-year-old. Of course, Berard went first overall in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft, so suffice it is to say, he knows a thing or two about having to deal with high expectations. On top of that, Berard gave his thoughts on the current team. Spoiler: He really likes Chief, and what the Leafs managed to do this past summer. Lastly, he talked about the Pat Quinn era Maple Leafs before teeing up his work with the NHL alumni/fantasy camp fundraiser happening in Aspen in mid-December.
To wrap, we talked about the latest surrounding Nick Robertson and a potential deal out of Toronto. According to Darren Dreger, the Leafs have remained engaged with interested parties over the last little while. We’ll see where it all goes. The saga continues.
The next edition of Leafs Morning Take will come your way on Friday at 11 AM ET. We’ll recap Leafs/Rangers as well as look ahead to Saturday night’s home date with Lane Lambert and the Kraken. Plus, ESPN SportsCentre anchor Linda Cohn will drop by the show.
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