Good Morning all! If you didn’t watch the game last nigh, or if you got a little emotional in the second period mega-slump, and stalked off, you should check out the recap here:

Recap: Toronto Maple Leafs win 5-4 in overtime vs Montreal Canadiens

There were some other games last night, and you can check out all the takes on those right here:

Game Recap: Penguins fall apart in 6-3 season opening loss to Flyers - PensBurgh
Pittsburgh gets out-dueled in the third period and falls on the road in the 2020-21 season opener

Flyers vs Penguins recap, 6-3: A four point game for Joel Farabee - Broad Street Hockey
A decisive win to open the season against the flightless birds!

Canadiens @ Maple Leafs recap: Romanov and Anderson shine in debuts - Eyes On The Prize
Montreal and Toronto decided to celebrate the new season by reminding all of us how entertaining NHL hockey can be.

Lightning open title defense with convincing 5-1 victory over Blackhawks - Raw Charge
They’re back and they’re ready to defend their title.

Blackhawks at Lightning 2021 NHL Recap: Score, stats, videos, highlights - Second City Hockey
Not an ideal start.

RECAP #1: NUCKS Go Hog Wild - Dump Oil 5-3 - Nucks Misconduct
In case you napped since August, yes... the Nucks are still in Edmonton.

GAME RECAP: Canucks 5, Oilers 3. - The Copper & Blue
Oilers, undone by blown coverages, lose home opener despite tying it early in the third period.

Blues opening night lines have some punch - St. Louis Game Time
There’s a lot to like going into tonight’s game

St Louis Blues top the Colorado Avalanche 4-1 to begin 2021 season - Mile High Hockey
It’s not how you start but how you finish, right?

Sportsnet now does “clip show” articles, so if you want to catch up on the other games in highlights:

Must-see moments from opening night of the NHL's 2020-21 season

On tap today is the European Report later to catch you up on the news there. The bad news is that Topi Niemelä is out with an unspecified injury for 3-4 weeks.

There is no rest for anyone in this NHL season, so the Leafs are back at work again tomorrow in Ottawa, making today a travel day.

There might be a practice of some kind, and we might also see a shuffle of the lineup, either to bank some cap space onto the Taxi Squad for 24 hrs, or to change out one player. It won’t be more than one, though, given the difficulties of calling up players with Dell taking a spot.

That’s all for now, have as good a Thursday as you can under the circumstances.

From The Branches