The Toronto Maple Leafs hope to rebound from a 5-4 shootout loss to Detroit on Saturday in their last game before the three day Christmas break, as they take on the slumping New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden Monday night.
The Rangers have been hampered by scheduling quirks and key injuries this season, but with a victory can pull into a playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division and within two points of the Leafs in the Eastern Conference standings.
New York faced a difficult challenge right off the bat with new coach Alain Vigenault, as they started the season on the road for their first nine games due to the nearly $1 Billion refurbishing of MSG. The Rangers went 3-6 during that stretch and have not taken advantage of the backlog of home games since. Their record at the Garden is under .500(7-10-2) and they have gone 2-4-2 in a nine game homestand that ends with the contest against Toronto on Monday.
The club will be without two key players on Monday, as team captain Ryan Callahan is out with a knee injury and defenseman Marc Staal is out with concussion issues. The Broadway Blueshirts have not been getting the expected production from their cornerstone players, as winger Rick Nash has just six goals in 20 games after missing over a month with concussion symptoms. Goalie Henrik Lundqvist has struggled throughout the year, before and after signing a seven year, $59.5 Million contract extension in early December and has an under .500 record(10-15-2), 2.77 GAA and mediocre .905 save percentage.
Backup goalie Cam Talbot, who is 7-2-0, with a sparkling 1.67 GAA and .936 save percentage made 24 saves in the Rangers 4-1 win over Minnesota on Sunday night and will go on back-to-back nights for New York.
Toronto’s seesaw goaltending situation appears to be tilting in the direction of Jonathan Bernier, who was steadying on Saturday allowing one goal on 26 shots after James Reimer yielded three first period goals to a Detroit club that has had trouble scoring goals with a injury depleted lineup.
Reimer’s exasperated facial expression caught by Hockey Night In Canada’s cameras on the bench in the second period after being pulled Saturday, off-ice moments captured by the cameras of 24/7 and his carefully worded comments following the game feed into the perception that the incumbent Leafs goaltender is increasingly frustrated with the goalie rotation with Bernier and with coach Randy Carlyle’s apparent lack of trust in the 25-year-old Morweena, MB native.
To look at how the season has unfolded, some skepticism of Reimer’s play appears to be justified. The game on Saturday was the fourth time that Reimer has been pulled in favor of Bernier for ineffective play. Reimer allowed four goals in 30 minutes against Ottawa in the home opener on October 5, was mercy pulled in the third period after allowing six goals against Columbus on November 25 and did not made it to the second period after allowing three early goals in St. Louis on December 12 and against Detroit on Saturday.
After showing improvement controlling rebounds early in the season, Reimer appears to be falling back into old habits and his save percentage and goals against average have declined accordingly.
“The very first shot that he took when in his glove and out of his glove, I thought the rebounds were bouncing away from him and when a goaltender is in a zone, pucks usually don’t go through them…..and their third goal went through him.… Carlyle said following Saturday’s game. “I made the decision, if we got through the period, that I was going to put Bernier in and when you do that, you do that based not specific to the individual that’s getting pulled, you do it for your team.…
Bernier is better positionally, gives up less rebounds and handles the puck better than Reimer, but has not been able to take the ball and run with it after being given two decent chances to grab the number one job. From November 13th to 27th, Bernier started four of five games, going 1-2-1 against Minnesota, Buffalo, the NY Islanders and Nashville and then went 1-3 in starts against Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago and Pittsburgh.
Reimer has more at stake, being a restricted free agent at the end of the 2013-14 season and may justifiably feel that Bernier is being given more rope, since he has not been pulled in any of his 20 starts. But in the end, the Leafs goaltending situation is a meritocracy.
Whoever can withstand the Leafs defensive imperfections and earn valuable points will get the bulk of the work.
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Winger Mason Raymond was absent from practice on Sunday after taking a shot off his foot against Detroit on Saturday, but TSN 1050’s Jonas Siegel reports that the Leafs forward took to the ice at MSG Monday morning and will likely be in the starting lineup. Enforcer Colton Orr participated in practice on Sunday and could get back in the lineup against the Rangers after missing three weeks with a bursar sac issue.
Hope all in Southern Ontario who lost power or who were affected by the recent ice storm are all warm and safe.
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