Goaltender James Reimer will get his second straight start for the Toronto Maple Leafs, as they complete a stretch of three games in four nights against the Colorado Avalanche at Air Canada Center on Tuesday.
Reimer, who lost his starting job to Jonathan Bernier last season, played well in a 24-save effort at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night before leaving the game early in the third period after colliding with Rangers forward Dominic Moore.
The Morweena, Manitoba native was removed for precautionary reasons and replaced by Bernier in the 6-3 victory over New York, did not feel any ill effects after the game, took part in the Leafs optional skate on Monday and occupied the home goal during Tuesday's morning skate at Air Canada Center, which is indicative that he will get the start.
RT @dave_hilson: There's #Reimer in #Leafs starting net. http://t.co/pLYF79gbeE pic.twitter.com/PNKvmGkkCj
— Toronto Sun (@TheTorontoSun) October 14, 2014The starting of Reimer could be as much about his solid performance at MSG than a slower than expected start by Bernier, who has an .882 save percentage, 4.51 GAA and 0-2-0 record in two starts.
Leafs coach Randy Carlyle was noncommittal on whether defenseman Jake Gardiner would get back into the lineup for Tuesday's contest after struggling in home losses to Montreal and Pittsburgh and being a healthy scratch in New York.
"We feel we have a quality hockey player that can play to a higher level and he agrees with that." Carlyle said following practice.
The surprisingly steady performance of Percy thus far gives Toronto some options on the blueline, which may include giving veteran Stephane Robidas the occasional game off.
"It's not easy doing what he's doing. He missed a good part of training camp, he only got to play one exhibition game. So all those things are hurdles that he has to overcome in this situation." Carlyle said. "It's not like we're hiding him in our lineup, he's playing big minutes and he's playing against the oppositions' best lines." The highly talented Avalanche were shutout in both ends of a home-and-home series with the Minnesota Wild(the club that eliminated them in the first round of last year's playoffs)to start season, but broke through with a 2-1 road win in Boston with backup Reto Berra in goal Monday afternoon, as ex-Hab Daniel Briere scored the game winner with less than one second left in regulation.
The game is the second of back-to-back games for the Avs(third game in four nights as well) and Vezina Trophy finalist Semyon Varlamov will start between the pipes.
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