Good morning. Or, more like, great morning!

It’s always a great day after the Leafs beat the Habs, but, to beat them 6-0 at the Bell Centre, and on Hockey Night in Canada so the whole nation is witness to the humiliation?

It’s a great morning, indeed.

Our recap of last night’s 6-0 win, the sixth in a row, and Auston Matthews’ return is here.

I like this comment on the game from the Montreal Gazette.

As I've said many times in this forum the management chosen by Jeff (sic) Molson has proven without any doubt over 6 years that the general manager is incompetent and never should have been chosen. He had no experience as a GM. Pierre McGuire who had experience both as a coach and a GM was passed over and this is the result.

Do it, Geoff! Hire McGuire!

Marlies

The Marlies are hosting the Crunch for back-to-back games this weekend. The Marlies won the first round 2-1 in a messy game last night.

We have a preview of the series here.

Cory Conacher talks about rookies and playing near his home town - Raw Charge
Hardev Lad had the chance to interview Cory Conacher this weekend while the team was in Toronto. Crunch editor Allovimo wrote this piece about his experience.

This video is much more fun to watch when you know that Johnsson sees that Kapanen is actually right there watching it all behind the camera and laughing.

Other News

That cigar...

Canadian artist puts ice on oil — 100 times — for the NHL - Toronto Star
Harris painted portraits of the top 100 players for the league’s centennial

Radko Gudas faces in-person hearing - Broad Street Hockey
Radko, buddy, you can’t do that.

Systems Analyst: 2 Finns 2 Furious - Canes Country
[Species: This gets in the links first for the headline, but second because it's good analysis.]

Could the Penguins afford to keep Hornqvist? - PensBurgh
The Penguins face an important question about Patric Hornqvist, and around the league a market for his price seems to be set.

SNL skit pokes fun at a black reporter covering hockey. Really? - TheColorOfHockey
There's an old saying that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Well, NBC's "Saturday Night Live" served up a heaping helping of flattery on last night's show. It featured a skit built on the old "black folks don't know hockey" premise with Chance the Rapper playing an unhappily cold black New York Knicks sideline reporter.

They should trade that bum McDavid for the player he grew up aspiring to be: Tyler Bozak.

Toronto Sports Media Blog weekend update: Halladay, McCown, CTV, and more – TSMBlog
"A news release from Unifor says that CTV Toronto sports reporting figures Joe Tilley and Lance Brown are among those laid off in a series of job cuts.”
[Species: I won’t shed any tears over Lance Brown, but, this is basically the end of local news based sports coverage in Toronto on TV. I don’t think any of the stations have someone left on that beat now.]

From The Branches