The Toronto Maple Leafs are Atlantic Division champions.
What a win, what a night in Buffalo.
Mitch Marner notched point No. 100 and Auston Matthews tallied his 400th career goal as the Leafs smothered the Sabres 4-0 to lock in a Battle of Ontario in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
That’s where the conversation started on the Wednesday edition of Leafs Morning Take. This will be the fifth instalment of the Battle of Ontario. For what it’s worth, Toronto’s taken the previous four meetings. That said, Ottawa’s had their provincial counterparts’ number lately. Not only did they sweep the three-game season series, but they’ve won five straight meetings and six of the last seven. Any way you slice it, this should be an awesome series.
Brought to you by Sobeys, we recapped the division clinching win in Buffalo. Once again, we went over the milestone nights for both Marner and Matthews. On top of that, we gave Anthony Stolarz his flowers. The 31-year-old has been a revelation this season. He’s notched back-to-back shutouts and three in his past four outings. What a way to enter the postseason! In his past eight starts, Stolarz is 8-0-0 with a 0.950 save percentage and three doughnuts. Yeah, he’s starting Game 1. Meantime, we gave some love for the bottom-six —specifically Scott Laughton and Steven Lorentz, who put forth very fine outings.
Then, thanks to GRETA BAR YYZ, 2003 Stanley Cup champion and current NHL analyst Mike Rupp dropped by the show. We got his thoughts on the Leafs winning the Atlantic and how they stack up against the Ottawa Senators. On top of that, Rupper raved about Matthew Knies and how much he loves the player. He went on to say that he thinks Knies could be THE MAN in a long playoff run for Toronto. Lastly, he weighed in on Auston Matthews and Toronto’s big boys. Ultimately, the Leafs will need to find a way to contain Senators captain Brady Tkachuk in the series.
After that, we got to the CRISPI HOT TAKE OF THE DAY, presented by the Ninja Crispi 4-in-1 Portable Glass Air Fryer. Producer Vick thinks Marner will lead the entire Battle of Ontario in points. If that happens, the Leafs should win the series, so that’s good.
At any rate, be sure to join us tomorrow for our final show of the week. In addition to previewing Leafs/Wings, we’ll continue to look ahead to the Battle of Ontario. Former Leaf Jonas Hoglund will drop by, so will NHL coach Derek Lalonde.
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