After 565 votes, the readers have determined (and correctly in my opinion) that the goal of the year was Auston Matthews going through the entire Ottawa Senators squad in the season opener.
Leafs fans hope to see more of those kind of performances from Matthews in his sophomore campaign, but what will also be needed is the club’s goaltending to backstop a defensive corps that still has question marks.
After a slow start, goaltender Frederik Andersen settled down and went 33-16-4, with a 2.67 GAA and .918 save percentage in a career-high 66 games.
More importantly, Andersen did not seem phased by the Toronto pressure cooker that destroyed Andrew Raycroft, Vesa Toskala and Jonathan Bernier before him.
It took a bit of time before head coach Mike Babcock was comfortable with a backup for Andersen. Jhonas Enroth only started four times before being waived and rookie Antoine Bibeau’s two appearances did not inspire much confidence.
Curtis McElhinney was claimed from Columbus and removed the burden of Andersen having to make back-to-back starts. The 34-year-old veteran won six games that enabled the Leafs to make the post-season.
Here are six spectacular saves made by Toronto goaltenders this past season:
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