The Maple Leafs are half way through their annual bye week vacation as of this morning. The Marlies are still playing, but they are on a long road trip while the Toronto Boat Show has taken over Ricoh Coliseum for more important stuff like this:

The Marlies are visiting the Checkers in Charlotte, affiliates of the Carolina Hurricanes. They won their first game on Friday 4-1, and won again last night 3-1. Jeremy Bracco kicked things off with this goal.

Back here in Toronto, the CWHL’s two China-based teams are visiting the Markham Thunder and Toronto Furies. Round one was yesterday.

Furies lose to Kunlun Red Star Thunder beat Vanke Rays - Nafio and Annie
Alex Carpenter and Rachel Llanes scored their first CWHL goals and Jenna McParland put up her first three goals of the season.

Round two is today. The Furies play at the MasterCard Centre at 1:00PM. The Thunder play at the Rickard Recreation Complex in Bowmanville at 1:30PM.

ICYMI

The only stat that matters is goals - Katya
Not that old line! But what if you do look at NHL teams through the lens of goals for and against?

Hockey News

Manufactured Controversy: Trading Matthews – Centre Of Leafs Nation
The very thought of the Maple Leafs trading away their most talented player and new face of the organization is crazy if not down right absurd. However that was the exact premise that was put forward in one of the latest ESPN articles: the case for trading Auston Matthews.

Babcock worries about Leafs’ conditioning after break - Toronto Star
Players could have a challenge "getting the motor running" again, coach suggests.

Could the U.S. Army force Vegas to change its name? - Pro-Hockey Talk
How has all this still not been settled?

Franson calls waivers and AHL demotion ‘extremely frustrating’ - Second City Hockey
This isn’t what the Cody Franson envisioned after waiting all summer to sign with the Blackhawks.

The Avalanche created an unusual goaltending interference controversy in their game against the Stars. Blake Comeau did make hard contact with goalie Ben Bishop on the play, but it was behind the net, not in front of it, and not anywhere near ‘the blue paint’. Is that still interference, or was it simply Bishops fault for not paying attention who was coming up behind him there?

It was called a good goal by the on-ice officials, but was then challenged. The review by the Toronto office went on for a very long time, almost six minutes, implying that there was something to actually think about here. So what is interference and what is not?

Special credit to the arena staff for the music selection during the review.

Danault stretchered off ice after taking errant Chara slapshot - Eyes On The Prize
Phillip Danault is spending the night in the hospital to be closely monitored. Zdeno Chara appeared quite shaken up by the incident which everyone on the ice realised was clearly an accident.

From The Branches