The Toronto Maple Leafs face the Vegas Golden Knights this Thursday, October 8, and the conversation ahead of the game centers not only on possible lineups and outcomes, but also on potential fights.
In the latest edition of The Leafs Morning Take, Nick Alberga and Jay Rosehill discussed who could be the first Leafs player to fight this season.
The main pick is Nick Paul.
Nick Paul Tabbed as First Maple Leafs Player to Drop the Gloves This Season
Alberga asked, “Who do you think has the first Maple Leafs scrap this season? We talked earlier on about the Stone-Montour bout between Seattle and Vegas. Who’s the first Leafs player to drop the mitts this year?”
Rosehill said, “Well, you’d think it would be (Brandon) Duhaime. I think it’s gonna be Nick Paul, though. I think something’s gonna happen.”
“There’s gonna be a scrum, and someone does something to, I don’t know, maybe it’s Easton Cowan, maybe it’s a D-man. Who knows? And Paul understands the assignment and just sheds them and grabs the guy and just roughs them up and has a scrap to let everyone know in the league, we don’t put up with that s—. Maybe they have in the past, but no longer. And it would not surprise me one bit if Nick Paul was that guy.”
Sergei Bobrovsky Faces First Big Test as Maple Leafs Meet Golden Knights
The Maple Leafs also received a warning regarding their goaltending ahead of Thursday’s game against the Golden Knights.
Alberga and Rosehill discussed expectations for new goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and warned this is exactly the kind of game they signed him for.
Rosehill said, “He’s there to handle those big ones, and I fully expect, you know, him to play and him to look solid and give them a chance. You don’t want the defensive breakdowns that we saw at the beginning of the game on Tuesday against Nashville.”
“Those need to be shored up, and I mean some of those were on OEL (Oliver Ekman-Larsson), (Christopher) Tanev, (Jake) McCabe. I would expect them to be a lot more solid tonight. And if they play a sound, structured game in front of him and are committed to the D-zone and turning things to the outside and not giving, you know, glorious chances with time and space to the Vegas Golden Knights, I think Bob will be there to do his job as well.”
Maple Leafs Handed Clear Fight Prediction Before Golden Knights Game