Grange on Leafs: A good goalie problem to have
Posted February 2, 2012 9:50 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Even when the Toronto Maple Leafs get a shutout, they have a goaltending problem.
Sitting in his sweat-soaked underwear, James Reimer exhaled slowly and said simply, “There it is; there it is.”
He was referring to a night’s work done and well done, as he stopped all 25 shots the NHL’s hottest team had for him in anchoring the Leafs’ 1-0 win over the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins.
But taken another way he might have been referring to a new set of problems for Leafs coach Ron Wilson.
A shutout win over the Penguins, winners of eight straight, should be time to celebrate, but in the Leafs’ situation, it’s time to contemplate:
Who is their goalie?
There have been enough times this season when the answer was a blank stare; a shrug; some feet shuffling and finally: “Um, we have no idea.”
And that was usually Reimer and Jonas Gustavsson talking.
The reality was it didn’t matter. One of them was either hurt and the other wasn’t playing well; or they were both healthy and not playing well.
We’re not sure if it was a condition of the contract extension Brian ‘Bad Santa’ Burke left under his coach’s tree alongside his BB gun on Christmas morning, but Wilson decided to clear the goalie question up once and for all a few weeks ago, with both Reimer and Gustavsson healthy and playing just OK.
And so the Leafs entered the “win and you’re in” era for 2012. It sounded good and it seemed, at the very least, decisive.
In reality it was the coaching equivalent of flipping a coin. Let in four goals on 19 shots but win 5-4? You won! You’re in! No decision required.
Problems arose when Gustavsson won four straight before losing 3-2 to Buffalo on Jan. 13th.
Wilson immediately abandoned his carefully thought-out plan, went back to hot-handsville and has been basically riding Gustavsson since, save for a shaky outing by Reimer against the Ottawa Senators on Jan. 17th — the Manitoban’s fourth straight loss.
But now what?
Reimer wasn’t exactly stellar against the Penguins. The first shot he saw slipped past him and hit the post; one of two pucks that found iron in the opening period.
But he mainly stayed square to the shooters and stymied the handful of chances the Penguins did have. His defencemen like having him in there as he’s a chatterbox — letting them know what’s coming behind when their back is to the play and they’re fetching loose pucks.
But was a shutout against the NHL’s hottest team enough to give Reimer the net on Saturday when the Leafs travel to Ottawa for another key game against an Eastern Conference opponent?
Wilson didn’t even want to touch the subject Wednesday night. Win and you’re in? That was so January.
“I don’t even think about it,” he said, fingers crossed behind his back. “Gut feeling, day-to-day. We have two good goalies, I’m glad James was able to get in there and figure out a way to win and get a shutout to boot, so that will be a boost to his confidence.”
Reimer certainly indicated he was in need of some positive affirmation.
After the horn sounded, the deeply-religious Reimer took a long, hard stare at the top of the Air Canada Centre, appearing to give thanks to the ghost of Terry Sawchuk for finally delivering the kind of performance the Leafs had come to expect since Reimer burst on the scene last season as a rookie.
“Obviously when you’re up by one goal and it’s the last couple of minutes you know what the stakes are,” said Reimer, who normally aims for a “don’t worry, be happy” mind-set when at work.
But he said more than once Wednesday night that he really wanted to get a win. For him there was more than just two points on the line.
When it comes to goaltenders, there is always the game within the game. A selfish forward or spotlight-seeking defenceman can have a corrosive effect on a team.
But a goalie who desperately wants to earn back his job and keep pucks out of the net as a by-product is not a bad thing at all.
The only problem is the Leafs — for the first time in a long time — appear to have two goalies who might just be capable of doing that as the club turns into the decisive stretch of the season.
Reimer’s shutout was the Leafs fourth in less than a month. Their last one before that was Reimer’s 2-0 blanking of the Montreal Canadiens on the opening night of the season. There were none for months until Gustavsson earned three in January.
If it’s the sign of things to come, the Leafs may once again have a goalie problem.
The good kind, for a change.
