Hope everyone is ready for a nice chill day watching other teams fight to stay in the qualifying round! Not only is that not the Leafs today, that won’t be the Leafs tomorrow either! Such relaxation! Such bliss!

Good luck to the Florida Panthers though. That seems tough.

NHL Games to Watch Today

NY Islanders @ Florida Panthers (2-0) 12:00 PM ET | NHL.TV, SN, TVAS, FS-F, MSG+
Nashville Predators @ Arizona Coyotes (1-1) 2:30 PM ET | NHL.TV, SN360, FS-A, FS-A PLUS, FS-TN
Tampa Bay Lightning @ Boston Bruins 4:00 PM ET | NHL.TV, SN, TVAS, NESN, FS-F
Colorado Avalanche @ Dallas Stars 6:30 PM ET | NHL.TV, FX-CA, FS-SW, ALT
Pittsburgh Penguins @ Montréal Canadiens (1-1) 8:00 PM ET | SN, TVAS, ATTSN-PT
Edmonton Oilers @ Chicago Blackhawks (1-1) 10:30 PM ET | NHL.TV, SN, NBCSCH

Current standings of all series, and the round robin seeding games.

ICYMI

Back to Excited Episode 113: Leafs vs Blue Jackets Game 2 Reaction
Exactly what it says on the tin!

John Tavares leads the Leafs to a win over Columbus in game 2
Our captain, Auston Matthews, and Morgan Rielly all scored last night in a very satisfying response to being shut out in game 1.

2020 NHL Draft Profile: Zayde Wisdom, the next Zach Hyman
Big eyes emoji looking ahead towards the 2020 NHL draft and Toronto native Zayde Wisdom.

From the Branches

Penalties aplenty are common theme early in NHL playoffs
Though you may not have guessed it from the first game the Leafs played.

What Maple Leafs can learn from Tampa Bay’s playoff loss to Columbus
It’s not just “work out the wording of your apology to your fans in advance”.

Early starts and late nights: NHL coaches have new routines inside the bubble
Coaches including Bruce Cassidy and Sheldon Keefe share their perspective on life inside the bubble.

Hats hit the ice after McDavid’s third goal thanks to NHL employees
In a fun attempt to keep some traditions going despite the lack of fans in the audience, NHL staff threw hats on the ice to celebrate Connor McDavid’s hat trick earlier this week, resulting in possibly the most McDavid quote of all time...

Why the Lightning want to play the Maple Leafs in the first round
The TL;DR is exactly the argument I’d make when saying that the Leafs should want the Lightning: our play styles are very complimentary of each other.

And finally, the QMJHL, OHL, and WHL have set their... optimistic season start date:

That’s all for now!

From The Branches