James Duthie thinks the Leafs can learn a few things from the Blue Jays: Leafs Morning Take

Ultimately, it wasn’t meant to be for the Toronto Blue Jays.

This one’s going to sting for a long, long time. Suffice it is to say, all eyes are now firmly back on the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Needless to say, we kicked off the Monday edition of Leafs Morning Take by dissecting Game 7 between the Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers. What drama, what theatre. There’s no consolation prizes in pro sports, but there’s a lot to be proud of from the Blue Jays’ perspective. That said, from a Toronto sports fan’s perspective, it’s easy to get back to that dark place. Outside of the Raptors randomly winning a few years ago, this city just can’t seem to catch a break in pressure cooker situations. And to be clear, there’s no Maple Leafs comparison here. This was Game 7 of the World Series —for all the marbles. The Leafs haven’t sniffed a game with those kind of stakes in decades.

At any rate, once we got that off our chests, we dove into the Leafs’ 5-2 win in Philadelphia, a game not many in Toronto were likely watching. It was your prototypical Craig Berube victory. Nick Robertson stayed red-hot with a goal and an assist, Auston Matthews potted his sixth of the campaign, and Anthony Stolarz made 31 stops. Meantime, Easton Cowan scored his first NHL goal. Also, Chris Tanev was stretchered off after a weird collision with Matvei Michkov. It was Tanev’s first game after sitting for three games due to a suspected concussion. Thankfully, Tanev was discharged from a Philadelphia hospital on Sunday and is now back in Toronto recovering. Scary stuff. Over and above all that, we discussed Bobby McMann’s recent struggles. He has zero points in the past eight games, and at this point, he could be on the outside looking in very soon.

After that, TSN’s James Duthie made another appearance on the show. Firstly, he broke down the tough Blue Jays loss. He was at the game, so naturally, he painted a picture of the raw emotion and theatre on Saturday night at SkyDome. Furthermore, we all feel like the Leafs can learn a thing or two from this Blue Jays squad. They were such a likeable team. Without question, the city hasn’t loved a Leafs team like that in a long, long time. Additionally, Duthie weighed in on the Leafs’ 6-5-1 start and their ongoing search for an identity. Lastly, he plugged his new book: Certified Beauties: More Of Hockey’s Greatest Untold Stories.

Through the podcast, we previewed Monday’s tilt on home ice against the surprising Pittsburgh Penguins. William Nylander will be back in the lineup and Phil Myers will replace Tanev. We could see a few other big changes, too, including a potential McMann health bomb. We’ll see.

You won’t want to miss the Tuesday edition of Leafs Morning Take (11 AM ET). In addition to recapping Leafs/Penguins, legendary NHL head coach Darryl Sutter will drop by the show to weigh in on Toronto’s start.