Mitch Marner spent a fair amount of time at TSN yesterday to promote the Chevrolet Good Deeds Cup. The best was probably his Facebook Live interview with Tessa Bonhomme, which is pretty informal and also features Marner and Bonhomme shooting at targets to raise money for Hockey Canada.  Other stuff (possibly geoblocked) is here, here, here, and here.

Auston Matthews was busy promoting a different community initiative - he’s the newest Scotiabank Teammate: "I'm excited about the chance to join Scotiabank's team and the other great players who work to do so much to support kids on and off the ice,"

ICYMI

We wrote a few articles yesterday. No one noticed at all, of course. Certainly no one yelled at anyone on Twitter about any of these.

The Problem With Those Shiny New Sportsnet Stats - Pension Plan Puppets
Sportlogiq’s public data, and why it isn’t worth much to us.

Maple Leafs by the Numbers: #10 - George Armstrong or Ted Kennedy? - Pension Plan Puppets
To long serving Maple Leafs captains vie for the #10

Matthew Tkachuk suspended one game for spear from the bench last night - Pension Plan Puppets
You Can’t Do That.

Games last night

Penguins 4, Islanders 3 (OT): Isles salvage point with late two-goal comeback - Lighthouse Hockey
An evening of four distinct periods gets crazy in the final 15 minutes.

Recap: Calgary Flames (3) @ Montreal Canadiens (2): Are You Not Entertained!? - Matchsticks and Gasoline
Sean Monahan netted 2 goals, including the OT winner as the Flames left Montreal 3-2 winners.

Jets’ back-and-forth effort ends in a loss to Panthers - The Globe and Mail
Micheal Haley scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period to lead the Florida Panthers over the Winnipeg Jets

Tampa Bay Lightning cruise by the Colorado Avalanche 5-2 - Raw Charge
Five goals by five different players lead the Lightning to their third straight victory

Recap: Penalties Seal the Dallas Stars’ Fate In 3-0 Loss to the St. Louis Blues - Defending Big D
To the Special Teams Bowl, where Murder, Death and Kill are the only things on the menu....

Boston slowly crushes Arizona 6-1 - Five For Howling
Looking at the final score you’d be surprised to think the Coyotes were in it at the half way point - but they were.

Other news

NHL to consider Seattle for league’s 32nd franchise; Quebec City snubbed again - The Globe and Mail
Seattle plans to have a new arena ready by 2020 with the intent of luring an NHL and an NBA team as anchor tenants

Carolina Hurricanes Purchase Agreement between Peter Karmanos, Tom Dundon Confirmed - Canes Country
After months upon months of speculation, the Hurricanes will have a new majority owner in the form of a Dallas businessman.

Devils’ Ben Lovejoy first active NHL player to pledge his brain for concussion research | Toronto Star
The New Jersey Devils defenceman says he wants to give back to the sport by making it safer.

Canucks forward Bo Horvat out up to six weeks with right foot fracture - The Globe and Mail
The 22-year-old Horvat has 10 goals and 10 assists in 28 games during his fourth season with the Canucks

Worlds qualifying

Quick update on the Women’s Division II B qualifying tournament mentioned on Wednesday - there are still games to play but with a 1-0 win yesterday against Belarus (their only real competition in the group), Croatia has qualified for the 2019 Division II B Women’s World Championships. Nice to see after the national team was unceremoniously disbanded following the 2015-16 season.

Oh right... and this was a statement the US Olympic committee had to make yesterday after comments from the US ambassador to the UN and the White House press secretary:

All seriousness aside, if Canada was to win the women’s hockey gold without beating the US where’s the fun in that?

From The Branches