It had seemed at one point yesterday as though a trade of Rasmus Andersson was imminent, but then he dressed and played for the Flames last night. This has to be a really tough position for a player. Artemi Panarin is now also in the same boat.

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Schedule wise, there are two and a half weeks before the Olympic roster freeze, so it is entirely likely more trades will happen in the next few weeks.

The Leafs schedule remains punishing, with a game tomorrow at home to Minnesota, another on Wednesday vs Detroit and the Vegas game is Friday with a Sunday afternoon game vs the Avalanche. And the schedule then continues every other day on a western road trip before the break.

About last night...

I'm going to let the heatmap do the talking for the first two periods:

That looks modestly okay because it's all-situations, but the Leafs rarely had the puck at five-on-five and did little of interest with it.

Auston Matthews with the only goal:

Winnipeg made it 3-1, and then OEL got it close:

OEL and McMann tied it up.

The Jets got a penalty off an acting job by Gabe Vilardi:

Scott Laughton did a great "I was a Flyer" performance of anger over the call that got Jonathan Toews tossed from the faceoff circle.

The Jets and most of the building thought they'd tied it up, but for the second time, the puck wasn't actually in.

And to overtime, where Craig Berube did two interesting things: He played Matias Maccelli a lot, which was obviously because Maccelli was good all game, and likewise he played Max Domi a lot. And we all know Domi has what sure looks like a mental block about three-0n-three. But this time, it paid off:

His 200th game for the Leafs.

Then all the emotions came out:

And that was a scrappy third period, and a nice redemption after the last OT loss. Honestly, not a great game, and fatigue is a going to be a factor for the next two weeks, but that was a good win.

4-3 Leafs

The Leafs have to play at .619 to get to 98 points, and they are currently at .583.

Have a great day, and see you tomorrow.

From The Branches