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When I went to bed at midnight Friday morning, the Edmonton Oilers were trailing San Jose 2-0 and were in 30th place in the NHL standings.
However, when I awoke on Friday morning I learned that Edmonton rallied to beat San Jose.
The Jets, Blue Jackets and Flames are tied for 28th place with 68 points. Oilers and Canucks are now in 29th place with 67 points and the Leafs have returned to 30th place with 65 points in the standings.
The Buffalo Sabres have 70 points.
Buckle your chinstrap and pip in your mouthpiece. It's going to be a wild ride for the next two weeks to determine which team wins the prestigious 0 30th place seed.
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The Toronto Maple Leafs are not tanking properly. The Leafs (27-35-11) are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games and 6-6-1 since the NHL trade deadline. The Leafs are 4-1-0 on their current six-game home stand after their 6-5 OT win over the Anaheim Ducks.
Nazem Kadri had two goals and two assists, including the overtime winner.
Nobody puts the Leafs in the corner, nor the basement!
The win over the Ducks now gives the Leafs 65 points in 73 games played. The Edmonton Oilers also have 65 points in their 76 games played.
At the time of this post, the Oilers are trailing the San Jose 2-0 at the end of two periods.
If they sustain this current pace, the Leafs are going to play themselves out of an NHL Lottery position. They must not want to take possession of a difference maker like Auston Matthews, Matt Tkachuk, Patrick Laine, Jesse Puljujarvi or Jakob Chychryn.
Tanking has taken a back seat in Toronto.
Meanwhile, the Anaheim Ducks earned one point and earned a Stanley Cup Playoff berth.
The Ducks trailed the Maple Leafs 4-1 but took a 5-4 lead in the third period. Toronto's Connor Brown tied the game with his first NHL goal with 4:23 left in the third period, and Nazem Kadri won it 41 seconds into overtime with his second goal of the game.
Anaheim (40-23-10), second in the Pacific Division, has qualified for the postseason in four consecutive seasons and nine of the last 11 (since 2005-06). It marks the 12th trip to the playoffs in club history.
The Ducks pulled within 4-3 with two goals in nine seconds.
Jamie McGinn scored his second PPG of the game. McGinn, a pending UFA now has 21 goals this season.
Andrew Cogliano rebound scored at 19:03 of the third period.
Ducks' grinder Ryan Garbutt tied the game at 4-4 with a shorthanded goal at 5:39 of the third period.
Newly acquired Brandon Pirri gave Anaheim a 5-4 lead at 8:17 of the third period when he scored from the side of the net for his 12th goal.
Maple Leafs forward Tyler Bozak was set up in front of the net but deflected a shot off the post at 14:27 of the period.
