In yesterday's WJC game Sweden beat Switzerland, and Victor Johansson suited up as the seventh defender. He played 6:23. With the packed schedule, we can hope he gets more chances to play.

Today Sweden plays Germany at 1 pm ET, and Canada plays Denmark at 8:30 pm ET. Tomorrow is an off day for our teams of interest, and they both play New Year's Eve in the evening slots.

About last night...

If you missed it, William Nylander did not play, but he's not on IR or anything, and at this point it appears to be minor. Easton Cowan drew in.

The Leafs dominated in the first period, and put together some good offence – tight to the net. Honestly the Red Wings looked out of sorts and behind the play.

It took until a power play in the second for there to be a goal:

With a few minutes to go, the Leafs got hemmed in, which had not been happening, and the inevitable happened.

Auston Matthews was hit by a puck and went to the dressing room a few seconds early:

The Red Wings definitely came back hard in the second,

Look at that power play shooting though. It's been a very long time since that happened very often.

The Leafs and Red Wings traded goals early in the third:

This is the sort of thing that fuels the conspiracy theories:

Talbot and all them other guys got nothing.

So, the game continued on, wild, unfocused with the Red Wings taking control, and my take is this: If you can't win in regulation when your number three goalie in his first NHL season lets in two goals, you didn't deserve to win. You have to be able to win that.

There were some eyebrow raising plays in OT including the choice to start Max Domi and what he did with that opportunity. Matthews fell down twice at least and couldn't seem to get back into the play. That puck to the leg? Anyhow, Red Wings in OT 3-2.

That's three wild games in a row which are very much more entertaining than Malaise. The Leafs really need to create some cap space (easy enough to do) and fill it with a very good winger (not easy to do).

Now for the glass half full take: they aren't chasing Detroit. So taking one extra point while the Red Wings pad their incredible lead atop the Atlantic doesn't actually hurt them in a division games shouldn't go to three points sense.

Justin Bourne in the pregame show laid it out: they have to win more often, they can't get to the playoffs with .500 hockey. Now to be fair, they've played above .500 most of the time, but not enough above. But he's right, they need to be hitting .600 or better from here on out. Where they are is just about where they were with 25 games played.

Interesting article about how Toronto was not prepared for the Raptors parade:

Secret report details frenzied planning for Raptors’ disastrous championship parade
After the Raptors parade in 2019, it left serious doubts about Toronto’s ability to fete our sports heroes in world class style.
Toronto StarRaju Mudhar
NHL fines Lundell, Sabourin for actions in penalty-heavy tilt between Panthers, Lightning
The NHL fined Florida’s Anton Lundell and Tampa Bay’s Scott Sabourin for their actions in the game between the Panthers and Lightning on Saturday night, one where the teams combined for the highest penalty total the league has seen since 2011.
TSNThe Canadian Press
Senators grant Linus Ullmark leave of absence for personal reasons
Sportsnet.caCanadian Press
From The Branches