The Leafs allowed five goals after 40 minutes. Scored five themselves in the next 20. And then lost in overtime three minutes later. That's the recap, check out the chaos below.

Five goal comeback in the third, Leafs lose in overtime
Leafs got the fans their money’s worth, but didn’t secure the bag.
PPP LeafsHardev

Keefe called the game "unacceptable" and challenged the Leafs to just get 20 shots in the third. They got 21, so mission accomplished. I'm really curious to read Keefe's full remarks and compare what he said at second intermission to the energy the Leafs stars brought in the third.

Ryan Reaves will be out for a while. Having him plan team dinners on LTIR might be the best-of-both-worlds loophole the team and fans are looking for.

And to add insult to injury, maybe another injury.

PWHL teams are off for an international break before the season begins in the new year. The 3-2 game between Canada and the USA went the way of the Americans for the third time in a row, but it wasn't without drama. Love a good ol' "and then everyone started punching everyone." Highlights from the game are on TSN.

Just before the break, the teams announced rosters for the beginning of the season. Maude Poulin-Labelle was cut from Montreal after being drafted by them, but she was quickly picked up by Toronto to play on their back end. Here's a story on her journey.

Toronto tickets sold out almost immediately each time more were released over the past couple weeks. As of right now, all of the available seats at the nearly 4000-seat Mattamy Athletic Centre will be filled for all dozen home games. I'm really hoping we get some SBA games in May with a blue and white Toronto team.

If you haven't read this article from Karissa Donkin at CBC yet and you would like an update on where the PWHL stands at the moment, you must read this.

Rule changes, merchandise sales next on the docket as PWHL races to puck drop | CBC Sports
PWHL rosters are set ahead of puck drop on New Year’s Day, but behind the scenes there’s still lots on the to-do list.
CBCKarissa Donkin

Roberto Luongo was raised to the "ring of honour" at Rogers Arena in Vancouver last night; not a number retirement. From Wikipedia, "the Canucks have retired six players' jerseys in their history—Pavel Bure (10), Stan Smyl (12), Trevor Linden (16), Markus Naslund (19), Daniel Sedin (22) and Henrik Sedin (33)."

This post initially just said "abuse," smart that it was changed to verbal abuse for fear of misrepresentation. Bill Guerin is being investigated.

This popped up from Guerin's past with the Penguins and the minor leagues. I'll admit to not knowing where this lawsuit ended up.

Lawsuit to be filed against Penguins, Bill Guerin alleging sexual assault cover-up
The wife of a former coach in the Penguins organization is preparing to a file a sexual assault lawsuit against the organization and former assistant GM Bill Guerin.
Yahoo SportsJustin Cuthbert

The St. Louis Blues let some drama slip when Jordan Kyrou made his comment a little too pointed about the departure of Craig Berube.

Late addition before I go to bed because things got rough for Kyrou in St. Louis. He was booed by his own fans, in response to his comments before the game. He spoke about it after the game.

Trading had discussions about the Guerin investigation and the 2026 Olympics in Italy (mostly).

After adding the Maritimes to the QMJHL, the QMJHL is adding Maritimes to the QMJHL acronym.

Oh... This is funny.

Happy Friday!

From The Branches