Good morning Toronto Maple Leafs fans!

The Maple Leafs didn’t play last night, but boy did things happen. The Boston Bruins played the Pittsburgh Penguins and Brad Marchand was at his Brad Marchandiest.

First off, Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry went to give the puck to a Penguins fan near the net, but Marchand stole it before it could be given away.

Which, it would have been funny if he took it, skated around the net then tossed it, but...you know., he didn’t. So it’s just a dick move on his part which isn’t surprising.

Then they have words and Marchand hits Jarry in the face with his stick while being escorted away by the ref.

A different angle shows he threw a punch too. He was given a game misconduct so he’s automatically up for a talking to from the league. Fingers crossed it’s in person and he’s gone for a while.

Speaking of suspensions, Marcus Foligno should probably get one for dropping a knee on a player in a prone position.

But hey, it’s cool. At least according to Foligno.

What a dork.

Speaking of losers, the All Star Game!

NHL All-Star Game low, Skills Challenge high

It’s not surprising the game ratings were low, as Jeff Marek says it’s the most skilled beer league game you’ll see, but these were....bad.

Saturday’s NHL All-Star Game averaged a 0.6 rating and 1.15 million viewers on ABC, marking the smallest audience for the game since 2009 (1.09M) — falling below several editions that aired on NBCSN or VERSUS

While the All-Star Game was a ratings bust, the previous night’s NHL Skills Challenge pulled a 0.6 and 1.09 million on ESPN — up 19% and 30% respectively from the previous edition on NBCSN two years ago (0.48, 835K) and the largest audience for the event in a decade (2012: 1.10M). The Skills Challenge was ESPN’s most-watched program of the day, topping the heavily-delayed Sixers-Mavericks NBA game that followed (0.50, 793K).

Canada wasn’t any better, but it had serious competition.

All-Star Skills: 881k (SN)

All-Star Game: 483k (SN)

Scotties Tournament of Hearts: 593k (TSN)

Finally, there were a couple sad results from last night. Well, sad for them, I really enjoy it.

New Jersey Devils 7 - Montreal Canadiens 1

Bottom Six Minutes 45: Jeff Petry isn’t helping his trade value

Vegas Golden Knights 4 - Edmonton Oilers 0

GAME RECAP: Vegas 4, Edmonton 0

What a night we had last night!

Alright, have a great day folks!

From The Branches