The Maple Leafs had a nice comeback win last night against the Detroit Red Wings, going from down 3-1 at the half way point, to winning it 7-4. Three of those seven Leafs goals belonged to Scarborough’s own Michael Bunting. Here’s our full recap of the game.

Recap: Michael Bunting is a hometown hero

Also noteworthy was Rasmus Sandin scoring the game winning goal, which is also his first goal of the season. Let’s watch that one again.

That’s only his second ever NHL goal too. The first was two years ago, almost exactly to the day, but he has spent much of the interim time bouncing between the Leafs and Marlies. Now he seems to be a solid lock for the Leafs defence, hopefully for a long time to come.

This puts the Leafs record for January at seven wins and three losses (one loss was in OT for an extra standings point). That’s a pretty great record and has moved the team to second place in the Atlantic Division by points%, behind only the Florida Panthers.

The Leafs now have only one day off before facing the New Jersey Devils in a back-to-back home-away series; Monday in Toronto and Tuesday in Newark. That trip to Newark will then lead into next week’s NHL All-Star Weekend. After that mini-break for the team (except for Jack Campbell and Auston Matthews who is Captain of the Atlantic Division all-star squad) the Leafs schedule gets very busy in a dramatic change from the sleepy January schedule of two games per week, including a road trip out west in the near future to visit Calgary, Vancouver and, finally, the Leafs first ever visit to Seattle. More late games coming soon!

ICYMI: some interesting news came out in last night’s 32 Thoughts intermission segment from Jeff Marek about a potential Leafs free agent signing:

Maple Leafs looking at a young goalie free agent: report

Over on the Marlies, there was a celebration yesterday for the Captain.

The Marlies trounced the Senators 5-1 yesterday, and will head off to the US to play their next games before finally returning to the Coliseum for a home game on February 5, which will be their first since January 12th.

Other News

Evander Kane scored in his first game with the Edmonton Oilers last night, doing his part in a 7-2 destruction of the Montreal Canadiens.

Everyone is trying to do the Michigan right now.

The funny part of the above clip is that Huberdeau wasn’t actually going to attempt it because he doesn’t know how to do it.

I was kind of shocked by this one, not by the comedy of errors by the Blues, but that Paul Statsny is still playing NHL hockey. I guess that’s what happens when your career hits a dead end in Winnipeg.

Nathan MacKinnon expected to miss at least one week after hit - Mile High Hockey
Taylor Hall made contact with MacKinnon’s stick, causing MacKinnon to whack himself in the face with his stick. The result of the play left MacKinnon with a facial fracture, as well as a concussion. Hall was initially given a match penalty on the play, but had it reduced to a two-minute minor for interference once the officials reviewed the video and saw what really happened.

OHL’s Nelson Shoots, Breaks Puck In Half - Scouting The Refs
A North Bay Battalion blueliner’s blast hit the crossbar, splitting the puck in two. Half the puck went in the net, the other half deflected into the corner. Does that count as a goal? The answer may surprise you!

Long journey sees Shelton, Thompson re-unite on Canadian women's hockey team - CBC
Defenders Ella Shelton and Claire Thompson played for rival clubs as teenagers, but wound up as a defensive pairing with the provincial squad. Now they find themselves together again on Team Canada for the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing.

Happy Sunday, everyone. A new episode of our Back to Excited podcast with Arvind and Fulemin will be out later today.

From The Branches