Or put another way, when Matthew Tkachuk bakes you a cake and ices it himself, maybe, don't blow it?

But the Oilers did spoil their own epic comeback when they couldn't close out a win after the Panthers iced the puck and had to bring Sergei Bobrovsky back in net.

Who won? Surely you know by now?

The game-winning goal:

The $10,000 tying goal that should have been the play of the game:

How's that go again, about leopard never changing their spots?

Or stripes, either, I guess. But you can't just let hits like that slide. You want to ignore some slashing or hooking? Go ahead. You want to forget there is an interference rule? Okay. But this stuff you have to call.

Well, I mean, this is easy to say after the fact, but what you do is play the game in front of you, no matter how much shit there is, no matter how unfair it might be. You take it on, full bore. If that's the thing the Leafs don't do well, and I know many people think it is, it's what they need to learn how to do. I think they have over the years, but they aren't quite good enough to survive a period of recovery. They have to brush this off faster. There is no easy way to win.

The management has to understand that meeting the best team in the east a half dozen times in round one or two means something, but their job is to find a way through that. You can't pretend it's not true, because decision makers need to live on planet Earth, not planet "they didn't show up!!!" but you do have to deal with it.

Also I love people who build the narrative too early:

Although this was stupid from the Oilers:

Next game is Saturday night in Edmonton.

Awards happened.

Finch Auto is originally a London business, and well, they were never owning a team in London. The arch-rivals though, that's going to be interesting.

Not quite the reports I've seen elsewhere. Teams lie, though:

That's enough for today. I did some rudimentary math to, well, you'll see. I don't recommend reading, never read about offseason cap space. The draft prospect today is a fun one.

Have a great Friday!

From The Branches