Following their day off on Thursday, the Leafs returned to practice on Friday morning as they get set for their home and home with the Detroit Red Wings.
We kicked off the Friday edition of Leafs Morning Take by addressing Thursday night’s 14 game card in the NHL. Remarkably, there are ZERO games tonight. That’s right, three days into the new season, there will be no games played. Wild stuff. At any rate, we talked a lot about the Atlantic Division on this episode. Of note, Montreal bounced back big-time again Detroit, Fraser Minten scored the OT winner for Boston as they improved to 2-0, and Ottawa squeaked out a 5-4 win over Tampa. Also, not surprising at all but Buffalo lost 4-0 in their opener. Some things never change.
After that, we talked about some practice notes. Most notably, we spent considerable time debating what the plan is with Easton Cowan. Judging by the lines at practice, the Leafs will be rocking the same lineup on Saturday night in Detroit. Ultimately, it makes a lot. At any rate, if Cowan’s not going to play, we see no reason to have him in the NHL. He needs to play. If it’s with the Marlies, then so be it.
Then, we previewed the tilt in Detroit. The Leafs went 3-1-0 against the Red Wings in 24-25. Bottom line, Toronto needs to find a way to get at least three of four points over the next two games. They’re a way better team than Detroit. Let’s hope they don’t play down to their opponents. Having said that, there’s no question that the Wings will come out hot in this one after they were dismantled 5-1 by Montreal in their season/home opener. Todd McLellan will have that team ready to play.
Have a great Thanksgiving weekend! That will do it for week one of season four of Leafs Morning Take. Join us on Monday at 11 AM ET as we recap Saturday night’s game plus preview Monday afternoon’s matinee affair at Scotiabank Arena.
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