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The Toronto Maple Leafs took on a young Colorado Avalanche squad last night who handed them their first loss of the season. With a handful of regulars missing and a line made of Toronto Marlies players, the team simply didn’t look very good.
With Nikolai Kulemin out with a broken ankle, David Clarkson serving another 7 games of his suspension, Mark Fraser on LTIR, Frazer McLaren with a fractured pinky finger, and Jay McClement in the hospital with his wife who is expecting the birth of their child, the Leafs were missing a few too many regulars, especially on the right wing which Joffrey Lupul ended up helping out with.
“Some of these things, this early in the season, you don’t expect to lose guys quite like that. It’s going to happen sometime. It’s a chance for other guys to step in and play well. You have to be able to play with everyone.”
Despite Lupul’s comments above, without a few regulars it would be those remaining who played the majority of the game as five forwards would end the night having played 9.5 minutes or less. The fact that the Leafs were not able to fully rotate their lines could either mean that there were a few players having bad nights, or their forward depth is simply not as deep as they thought.
With respect to the game, it was a fast paced bout between the two teams as during the entire first period both sides were flying getting chance after chance. Both sides appeared to create offensive opportunities throughout the first two periods, however there were a few that were at that expense of their defense. The Leafs especially struggled to move the puck out of their own end as the team was far too spread out making it difficult to break out as a group.
Joffrey Lupul would score the first goal of the game by crashing the net and essentially forcing the puck through Colorado’s tender Varlamov. Matt Duchene and the Avalanche would soon respond with a goal from Corey Sarich who managed to find enough space over the shoulder of Jon Bernier to tie the game at one goal a piece.
Before getting into the next goal that followed I’d like to express that as much as I wanted to write about my frustrated observations with defenseman Paul Ranger, I will hold off on much criticism given that the season is still young and the fact that he's been out of the league so long. I digress.
After a defensive lapse from Ranger which led to a two on one, youngster Jake Gardiner would do his best to try and take away the passing chance by sliding across; however it appears that he got up a little too early as the puck found its way to P.A. Parinteau’s skate and in the back of the net.
The Leafs would seem to find a second wind in the third period with a few solid chances by Lupul, Kessel, and Franson who were all throwing pucks at the net hoping for the best. Rookie Morgan Reilly displayed his skating abilities in front of a home crowd as he would take the puck in deep a few times showing he can handle the pace of the game. Although a few late pushes came close, the Leafs were not ultimately able to get organized fast enough and would walk away with their first loss of the season.
My stars for the game go to Lupul, Bernier, and Reilly for the Leafs, and to Duchene, MacKinnon, and Varlamov for the Avalanche.
**
It appears that there is a trend with game stars and one particular Leafs player this year – Jon Bernier. With back to back impressive play for the Leafs, the young netminder is certainly making his claim for the number one starting position early on, which begs the question; Is Bernier slowly making Reimer expendable?
Before many of you start calling for my head given that the Leafs have played but four games so far this year, I would like to set this conversation up ahead of time as I feel it is inevitable that we start talking about James Reimer and not Jake Gardiner who is a likely candidate out the door.
There is really no denying that Reimer has earned his right to be given the benefit of the doubt that he can hold on to the starting position given his strong performance last year. A performance, might I add, which basically allowed the Leafs to almost knock out the Boston Bruins in the 2013 NHL playoffs.
That said, it’s pretty hard to argue otherwise that Jon Bernier has looked much more comfortable between the pipes and has provided his team with more opportunity to win so far this year than has Reimer. Again – I understand it is still early, but the discussion is there just the same. In comparison to Reimer’s play this year and last, Bernier appears to play with a little more confidence in net and makes it look easy on many chances.
While James Reimer finished the 2013 season with the best SV% in Leafs franchise history last year, I would like to make an observation. Watching Reimer play last year, I noticed that he tends to fight the puck a little more than your average starter throughout games. For those of you who are unsure what it is that I mean by this, Reimer appears to use his athleticism to stop many goals rather than always being square to the puck for instance.
Furthermore, many fans continue to express their concerns with Reimer’s rebound control and glove hand which continues to be the goalie’s two weaknesses. A lot of criticism for a goalie who was one of the best tenders in the league last year, right? Well, here’s the thing – although everything I mentioned is accurate, does it matter?
I've always found it interesting to either take part in debates with friends or even listen in when they try and argue that despite making a save, earning a win, or what have you, that said goalie or player got lucky again because of their hard work and they will eventually start to regress.
Being one who has never felt overly confident with Reimer’s play to date, I have to say I think we are getting to the point where we can say – Yep, that’s what Reimer does. He might not be as flashy or square in his net as Jon Bernier, but then again the best goalies in the world for the most part weren’t either. Like Reimer, their athleticism and battle won them games.
So to you I ask; does Bernier’s “comforting” play between the pipes eventually make Reimer expendable as a member of the Leafs, or does James continue to battle and provide the team with a strong goalie tandem known as “OptimusReim” and “MegaJon”, as fans have labeled?
That’s all for this week, please check out the poll below and thanks for reading!
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