The Leafs are flying out of Winnipeg tonight and heading south and west on the back of a 4-1 win last night against the Winnipeg Jets. Fortunately they can fly out as it has been discovered that Winnipeg does indeed have an airport. Here’s our play by play recap of the game and their airport.

Recap: Leafs beat the Jets in an chippy road game
The Maple Leafs are in Winnipeg, but how did they get there?

Let’s take one more look at that amazing backwards between the legs pass by Wayne Simmonds to David Kämpf to setup a goal.

Ilya Samsonov has stepped up and really is looking great. He added himself to a historical list of goalie wins last night.

The Leafs next game is tomorrow and it’s the first stop on the annual California road trip. Except it’s not in California. The Leafs have to visit Vegas once per season, so why not tick that box on the way to California? It will be the first of two very late games in a row, starting at 10:00 p.m. ET, with the second on Thursday against the Sharks, starting at an even later 10:30 ET. Make sure to pencil in some early evening naps this week.

Over at the Coliseum, the Marlies are playing the second of back-to-back games against the Grand Rapids Griffins (Detroit Red Wings affiliates) at 4:00 p.m. today. They won the first game yesterday 4-1 with goals by Noel Hoefenmeyer, Nick Abruzzese, and Alex Steeves (2).

Yesterday’s game was also the debut of Danny DeKeyser on the team who signed a PTO contract earlier this week. DeKeyser is a veteran defenceman who played ten seasons with the Red Wings, but found himself without a contract for this season. His experience on the penalty kill was invaluable and very visible in this game. Marlies coach Greg Moore called him a “stabilising force” for the blue line which has seen some sudden changes with the Leafs calling up Victor Mete. Filip Král was returned back to the Marlies yesterday.

Other News

We hope that Borowiecki is ok after this fluke accident.

Some Minnesota Wild players just don’t work well together - Hockey Wilderness
While three of the four forward lines played decently well, Tyson Jost, Joel Eriksson-Ek, and Nick Foligno shit the bed so damn bad that they are forcing us to write an entire blog about it.

Olympic gold medallist rips Hockey Canada for paying her $4K for post-concussion medical expenses - CBC
Olympic gold medallist Katie Weatherston says it was "unjust" of Hockey Canada to tell her it only had $4,000 available to cover medical expenses for an ongoing traumatic brain injury she sustained while playing for Team Canada.

Tackaberry skates — Tacks — recognized for national historic significance - CBC
Nearly 120 years ago, a shoemaker in Brandon, Man., who specialized in orthopaedic shoes for people with disabilities, designed a skate boot that transformed a key piece of hockey equipment. Now, George E. Tackaberry’s skate, more familiarly known as CCM Tacks, has been declared an event of national historic significance.

How many points will the Leafs come home with from this Vegas and California trip?

855
6 or 7111
4 or 591
2 or 310
12
03
From The Branches