Recap: Leafs beat the Rangers 4-2

The Leafs are back! Last night they defeated the Devils Rangers 4-2, earning another two crucial points to crack in to a wild card or division playoff slot as they catch-up in games with the rest of the league after their bye week.

Tonight the Leafs will visit their home away from home, the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa. This is a key game to win if they want to keep moving up in the division.

If Mitch Marner scores tonight make sure to note if he makes a particular face. He will.

We will have a preview up later this morning.

The Marlies played last night in Syracuse and lost 5-4. The game got a bit dirty, including this nonsense from the Crunch.

Kapanen went out and did not return. After the game Sheldon Keefe commented to Leafs TV that while he was not fully updated, he did not believe Kapanen would be able to play tonight. The Marlies face the Amerks at Ricoh Coliseum at 5:00 PM. This will be their last home game for the month as Ricoh is handed over to the Toronto Boat show who literally turn the rink into a small lake.

Meanwhile the Solar Bears continue their adventure in Alaska, losing the second of their three games. As always, Don Money has full coverage of the game.

Also playing tonight are the Toronto Furies! We’re having a meetup and many of our wonderful PPPPeople will be there! You can read up on the details here, but the best part is obviously that you can meet the extremely attractive and super intelligent members of the PPP Staff! You can also meet me.

Other News

A close look at Vasilevskiy’s unusual season - Raw Charge
What factors led to Vasilevskiy’s  strong start and recent struggles? Saima takes a hard look at his season  and interviews Justin Goldman of The Goalie Guild as well as Paul  Campbell of InGoal Magazine.

Is Brent Burns the NHL’s most valuable player? - G&M
“Joe Thornton was making a stump speech on  behalf of his San Jose Sharks’ teammate Brent Burns, the mid-season  favourite to win the NHL’s Norris Trophy as the league’s top defenceman. But Thornton wasn’t just talking Norris. He was pitching Burns for MVP –  and making a good case for his bearded, tattooed friend, who is in the  midst of an exceptional breakout season.”

The NHL head office has now said it is investigating what lead to the approval of this absurd skit at a Minnesota Wild game where Tommy Hawk (sigh) is pretend beaten to death and literally dragged off the ice.

2017 NHL All-Star Game: Smith deserves to represent the Coyotes
Mike Smith is the Arizona Coyotes representative for the 2017 NHL All-Star Game. There is a good reason why.

Dubnyk trade swung balance of power in Western Conference - Hockey Wilderness
Dubnyk has taken Minnesota from the brink of irrelevancy to a Western Conference powerhouse. But it could’ve  gone very differently.

Meanwhile Mile High Hockey is not enjoying the disaster that is this Avalanche season, and is no longer referring to their version of FTB as “Daily Cupcakes”.

From The Branches