The Maple Leafs play the first of two games this season against the Edmonton Oilers tonight on home ice. The second game will be in Edmonton on March 9th. You might have heard how the Oilers aren’t having a great season. I’ll have more in the preview of tonight’s game which will be up later this morning, but suffice it to say, with only 20 games left to play in their regular season, the Oilers are seven points out of the Western Conference Wild Card playoff slot, That’s about where they were sitting ten games ago too. They’ve made no progress at all in the month of February. They’re essentially now in desperation mode. It should be a fund game tonight.

Meanwhile, the Furies clinched their playoff spot last night, defeating the Thunder 3-1.

Toronto Furies are going to the CWHL Playoffs

The Marlies will be playing bright and early this morning. It’s a school day game against a rare Western Conference opponent, the Manitoba Moose. Puck drop will be shortly after 11:00 a.m. and I will be there to tell you all about it while you remain in bed like a big toasty cinnamon bun and avoid the blizzard sweeping across the GTA.

ICYMI
Here’s what we wrote about yesterday.

Two things the Leafs didn’t do at the deadline - Arvind
Discussing a player that didn’t move, and the defence that wasn’t changed.

Early Thoughts on the Maple Leafs at the NHL Trade Deadline - Kevin Papeti
A first look at Petan for Lindholm and how the rest of the league fared.

Other News

Bunch of Jerks

An angry Zdeno Chara is scary.

Suspensions sure to result from off-ice scrap before Growlers vs. Beast game - The Telegram
Growlers' captain James Melindy and Beast defenceman Mike Folkes exchanged punches outside Brampton dressing room after warm-up skate.

Replacing Hayes easier said then done - Blueshirt Banter
With the Rangers rebuilding, their desire not to pay Kevin Hayes for his age 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 and 32 seasons makes sense.

Crawford will return from concussion this week - Second City Hockey
Corey Crawford missed 28 games with his second concussion in less than a year.

Three Pegula Sports and Entertainment executives out after latest shakeup – The Buffalo News
A statement from Kim Pegula did not give any reason why the trio was exiting Pegula Sports and Entertainment and did not name replacements for them.

From The Branches