The Maple Leafs kicked-off their Central Division road trip last night with a win against the St. Louis Blues. Here’s our play-by-play recap of the game:

Recap: Maple Leafs get the last laugh on the Blues

Let’s watch Nylander stripping the puck off Tarasenko and then scoring the OT winner on Binnington one more time.

The next stop on the Leafs road trip is in Phoenix where the Leafs will play for the first time in Mullet Arena, the controversial temporary home for the Arizona Coyotes located at Arizona State University which has seating for only 5,000. The Leafs then go on to play the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night. The Avalanche actually played the Coyotes last night and somehow the Coyotes beat them 6-3, so there’s hope for the Leafs on Saturday! By the way, the game tomorrow is a 9:00 p.m. ET start.

Meanwhile, the Leafs may have a problem brewing—the good kind—with Morgan Rielly joining the team on this road trip, signalling the long recovery from his injury is almost over, but that means there will have to be a shakeup of the lines to make room for him, and then someone will be a healthy scratch each night. It may also mean the end of the five-forward power play. Here’s more on that:

Maple Leafs days away from having too many defencemen

Leafs’ prospects are also back from their Christmas breaks and playing again. Fraser Minten made the highlight reels last night with the Kamloops Blazers.

He got the hat trick at the end of the game with a ENG, putting the Blazers up 6-4 on the Kelowna Rockets.

The Marlies play the Senators in Belleville tonight, and Team Canada faces Germany in  the World Juniors at 6:30 p.m. ET.

From The Branches