Yesterday the Marlies won their must-win playoff game moving to the second round of the AHL playoffs. Dennis Hildeby got the win and Logan shaw was the scoring hero in a 4-2 win over the Amerks.

They move on to play Laval with the first game on Wednesday night. This is a best of five round.

On Saturday the Toronto Sceptres failed to get the win against Ottawa and are out of the playoffs. They will draft fourth overall, and Vancouver got enough points after they were eliminated in the Gold draft plan to draft first overall. What comes next for the Sceptres is up in the air as more expansion is rumoured meaning the team will be remade again. It needs to be, but we can only hope the outcome is better this time.

In NHL action, the Los Angeles Kings were eliminated by the Colorado Avalanche marking the end of Anze Kopitar's amazing NHL career. The handshake line left me a little teary for a man who certainly defied all the probabilities and may well go down in history as the best Slovenian to ever play the game.

He had what every top player wants. He was drafted in 2005 and after one more year in Sweden, he entered the NHL and never left until last night. He played every game for the team that drafted him, won the Cup twice, the Lady Byng and the Selke twice (just his luck his career overlapped Patrice Bergeron).

1,521 NHL games in the regular season, 107 playoff games.

When you draft someone that special, that's what you want their career summation to look like. You owe it to them.

Oh, did Montreal get beat? That's too bad.

This is pure gold. Lists of everyone who didn't score enough, trade speculation based on residency. Remember all those times you whined about all the media only talking about Toronto? Enjoy.

Future of Senators captain Brady Tkachuk and goalie Linus Ullmark among off-season question marks
The Ottawa Senators will face no shortage of questions about what the future holds for this roster after coming up short at an important time of year
Ottawa CitizenBruce Garrioch
Senators’ Ridly Greig to have hearing for roughing Hurricanes’ Walker
Ridly Greig will have to answer for his actions following a chaotic finale to the Ottawa Senators’ season.
Sportsnet.caSportsnet Staff
Sabres score 4 in 1st, win Game 4 of Eastern 1st Round to push Bruins to brink | NHL.com
Doan, Tuch each has goal, assist for Buffalo; Arvidsson leaves with upper-body injury for Boston
NHL logoJoe McDonald

That's it for now, have a great Monday!

From The Branches