The Leafs ended the New Jersey Devils winning streak last night in quite spectacular fashion, but the real drama on the ice was all about the Devils fans’ reaction to legitimately disallowed goals, throwing cans and bottles on the ice, causing a major delay for cleanup and even forcing the Leafs to retreat to the dressing room.

Someone even appears to have thrown a full cup of beer out there. What a waste! That probably cost $12!

Here’s our full recap of the game:

Mitch Marner hits 14, New Jersey doesn’t

We now await word on Jordie Benn, who appears to have been added to the now very long list of injured Leafs defenceman per Sheldon Keefe who said he will have an update on his “upper body injury” today. In the meantime, the Leafs have a new defenceman to integrate in the team.

Leafs acquire Conor Timmins from Coyotes in exchange for Curtis Douglas from the Marlies

The Leafs have now won three of their past five games while collecting another two points from the two losses which were both in OT.

It’s been a different time for the Toronto Marlies of late. After a long and successful road trip during the Royal Winter Fair, the Marlies have lost three of their past four games, including a 5-3 loss last night to the Syracuse Crunch (Lightning affiliates). Their earlier success created a nice cushion so they still sit on top of the North Division standings, but other teams are catching up.

After Sunday’s loss, Marlies Coach Greg Moore noted issues with “physicality” on defensive play were an issue for the team. I asked him to elaborate about what that really means, and how the team should apply it:

“In the defensive zone, stopping momentum is everything. The first defender physically getting them into the boards, stopping their momentum, and getting the second [defender] to help really shrinking their space as quickly as we can. If we allow them to stay in motion and keep moving it makes it really hard for us to get a puck back, and then if they shoot and they’re in motion it’s easier for them to retrieve it. So just physically getting them stopped is really important to us.”

The Marlies have a home and away series this weekend, playing the Monsters in Cleveland on Friday night, then playing them again here in Toronto on Saturday. We’ll see how well they can put that physicality plan into action then.

The Leafs road trip continues with back-to-back games on Friday (at 2:00 p.m. ET) in Minnesota and then Saturday night in Pittsburgh.

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From The BranchesToronto Marlies