I'm not going to lie, the Leafs vs Habs last night was a dull game. The Leafs were not exciting, fast, good, engaged, on the ball, whatever you like, they weren't it.

Neither team should be proud of that.

Caufield had the only goal for the bulk of the game.

Until finally the Leafs woke up. Or maybe that was just me.

The game went to OT, and that decided nothing beyond how good Dennis Hildeby is right now under pressure and how boring the current three-on-three strategy is.

The game when to a shootout, and Jakub Dobeš was the best player on the ice for that contest. Habs won. Leafs get a point.

The Leafs need to play the rest of their games at .574 to get to 92 points on the season.

Quick Shifts: Can Maple Leafs solve goalie woes via trade?
When Anthony Stolarz returns is anyone’s guess, and Joseph Woll appears to need time to recover from a “lower body” injury. Luke Fox explores whether the Leafs need to consider making a trade for a goalie in the latest edition of Quick Shifts.
Sportsnet.caLuke Fox

The Olympic drama llama stuff continues. I'm still not buying in on the idea there's any sort of chance it does not happen:

There's a lot of talk, as there usually is ahead of the Holiday Roster Freeze, but nothing has actually happened.

"They" is the Devils in this case.

None of this trade talk is very serious yet, but it is not impossible someone does something big in the next two weeks.

That's all for today, have a good Sunday, and remember the Sceptres have a noon-hour start time later today.

From The Branches