The Maple Leafs are back tonight after a rare Saturday night off and will host the Utah Hockey Club for the first time ever in Toronto. This is the end of back-to-back travel games for Utah; they beat the Penguins 6-1 last night.

There were 15 NHL games yesterday, but today this is the only game for the whole league. It's going to be broadcast on TSN4 and we'll have our preview out later this morning, but you all know the news that Auston Matthews will still be out, however we will see the debut of Alex Nylander as a Maple Leaf, playing with his brother. I really want them to have "A. Nylander" and "W. Nylander" on their jerseys because I don't think I've seen that since we had the two Carricks, Sam and Connor, both playing together on the Marlies, though they were not brothers or close relatives, they simply happened to have the same last name by coincidence.

Speaking of the Marlies, they did play yesterday and continued with their rotation of California teams visiting town. The season opened with the San Diego Gulls visiting Toronto, and this weekend it's the San Jose Barracuda. The Marlies won Saturday's game 3-0.

First goals are always fun, so here's Sam Stevens scoring his first ever pro-hockey goal. Stevens was signed after attending Boston University where he played with two other Marlies, Robert Mastrosimone and Cade Webber.

Though the star of the game was Artur Akhtyamov, playing his seventh game of the season, he got his sixth win, and this one was a shutout.

The Marlies play the Barracuda again today at the Coliseum at 4:00 p.m. and its their Pride Night game. Here's the five minute recap of yesterday's game:

Leafs Prospects

In Leafs prospects news, Sam McCue stays PPG on the season.

And you might pointlessly ask if Easton Cowan scored last night because of course he did!

Other News

LOLHABS

4-6 weeks may only be 3 for Ovi.

Alex Ovechkin just walked past the Caps media room walking with a big smile on his face. No crutches or brace

— Ethan Cadeaux (@ethancadeaux.bsky.social) 2024-11-23T16:26:27.116Z

The NHL awards on PEI? They've spent millions to get it. But will it happen?

Here's last night's results.

Enjoy your Sunday.

From The Branches