The playoffs are finally here.

Today there are two games, one at a 5pm start time, so you can watch six hours of NHL hockey. Nine, if you start with the PWHL game.

The first game has the Islanders at Carolina, and of course, the Leafs are at Boston at 8 pm.

PWHL Toronto plays in the Habs arena at 1 pm vs Montréal. We'll have the preview and chat post up for that game late this morning.

The Preview for the first Leafs playoff game will be this afternoon, and we'll also have some updates on Marlies and prospects for you today.

Maple Leafs Prospect Report: The Finals Countdown
Another playoff round completed, let’s once again check in on Toronto’s various prospects who have been performing in their respective league’s playoffs. At this point, some of them are at the end game in the finals!
PPP LeafsBrian S

How to Watch the NHL Playoffs in Canada

All NHL playoff games televised in Canada are on Sportsnet. They might not be broadcast on the main channel – check your listings.

All NHL playoff games for all teams are available on Sporstnet+ to stream. The price is currently $19.99 per month or $179.99 per year for the Standard SN+. This gets you all of the playoff games live.

If you want to go the yearly route, think it over first. If all you want is "in-market" games for the Leafs, then Standard it's all you need. If you want a lot of non-Leafs games, you want the more expensive Premium version. But no Leafs games broadcast on TSN are available to stream on Sportsnet at any price if you live in the Leafs region.

Note, either monthly or yearly SN packages are a subscription so it will renew automatically as those things do.

If you have Amazon Prime in Canada, you can buy Sportsnet for the same $19.99 price per month and log in and watch via Prime and control your subscription with their easy to cancel system. A standalone Sportsnet+ subscription or one through your TV provider does not let you watch on Amazon Prime.

Some Saturday games in the playoffs will be on CBC and CBC Gem. Not all games are on the CBC. Our game previews will list the television broadcasters only, as that is the only information the NHL schedule provides.

In the US, games are broadcast on a family of related channels: TBS, ESPN, ABC, etc. Several services that bundle TV channels for streaming are also available and may include these games. Regional broadcasters may air and/or stream some games.

Please do not advertise or solicit illegal streams or streaming services on this site.

The News

Yesterday was all about Alex Meruelo's moment in the limelight.

If you want the full monty:

Aside from the no plan for season-ticket holders, this seems to be a very controversial statement:

People are alleging the money amount is contradicted by official filings of spending.

I am enjoying the PR and marketing experts on Twitter who are sure they know the single correct way to run a business. When did meta about public relations become the main way people interacted with corporations? There should be a special review site, a rotten tomatoes for corporate announcements where people can assess them and vote on the style of presentation, give points for word choice and colour of background and text. Explain how everything is always bad and stupid.

And it's clear no one is taking this Utah team seriously.

I don't know about that logo SEG has, it's a little "did it myself in MS Paint", don't you think? And I'm not sure that black background is really right for this announcement. Obviously that season ticket number is made up, it ends in some zeroes, and won't they look funny with blank uniforms, ha ha. What losers.

Why didn't they register a trademarked logo months ago so everyone could scoop the stupid media on this story. It would be wrong and dumb though. Everything is wrong and dumb. The NHL is so stupid. This is why we can't have nice things. Why didn't they sell the team to a someone famous and cool with no actual money?

In other news, the radio reporter who covers the Coyotes is reporting that the 5-year window to restart the team was the thing that made Meruelo agree to the deal. This reporter has had some things a little wrong – he claimed the banners the Coyotes left at the old arena were in the garbage, when they were just never retrieved, so grain of salt there. I know where there's a whole lake full if you're running short.

Toronto Maple Leafs announces ‘GO LEAFS GO’ train for playoffs, with surprise guest appearances
Fans onboard the “GO LEAFS GO train” will also be offered the chance to participate in surprise giveaways and win playoff-themed prizes.
Toronto StarAbhiraj Lamba

The Traverse City prospect tournament has contracted:

And that's enough for a late edition of the FTB on the first day of official FTB season.

FTB, everyone.

From The Branches