The Toronto Maple Leafs resorted to a familiar formula in their 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday, as they relied heavily on goaltender Jonathan Bernier and on opportunistic offense to provide the margin of victory.
Bernier was stellar in a 40 save performance and preserved a precarious one goal lead late in the third with a glorious glove save on the reigning Art Ross Trophy winner, Martin St. Louis.
Nazem Kadri emerged from a lengthy funk with a pair of goals and James van Riemsdyk scored the game winner with 4:03 remaining in regulation, shaking off concerns of being injured after missing practice the previous day.
Bernier is now 8-4-1 in his last 13 starts and appears to have a stranglehold on the Leafs number one goaltending job, but that admission won’t be made by Leafs management or head coach Randy Carlyle for one simple reason; because it would lower the market value of former number one James Reimer for a possible trade before March 5th or during the summer, when he becomes a restricted free agent.
Kadri continues to be an enigma, as the two goals were impressive offensive accomplishments, but were diminished by a lax defensive play on Mark Barberio’s tying goal late in the second. Consistency at both ends of the ice continue to plague the 23-year-old, who before Tuesday’s outburst had scored just twice in the last 21 games.
Defenseman Tim Gleason had an effective but painful evening against the Lightning, playing over 18 minutes and being hobbled by a Sami Salo shot and taking an errant Bernier pass off the face. The veteran blueliner was hurt more seriously late in the third, after falling awkwardly into the boards after being checked by Tampa winger Teddy Purcell.
Tim Gleason's X-rays were negative; team optimistic with improvements made since last night; just "stiffness" in shoulder at this point
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) January 29, 2014*******
Toronto could have some tough decisions to make in the very near future as many of their injured players get closer to returning.
The Leafs currently have 26 players on the active roster or on injured reserve. Center Trevor Smith is close to returning from a broken hand suffered in mid-December, winger David Clarkson could be back before the Olympic break after having elbow surgery to repair an infected bursar sac and Dave Bolland participated in practice for the third straight day, but is not expected to be game ready until late February.
“We’ll have decisions to make.… Carlyle said. “We got a lot of bodies that are potentially going to join our group over the next little while. With Trevor Smith and with Bolland, those are decisions that are going to affect our lineup. We’re going to have too many people here.…
Two moves that would not involve any risk would be to demote Carter Ashton and Peter Holland to the Toronto Marlies. Both players appear to not need any more seasoning at the AHL level, but would simply be casualties of being able to be sent down without having to clear waivers.
Smith was effective when Toronto was decimated up the middle in November and early December and would allow Carlyle to give more ice time to a more dependable fourth line unit, but might be claimed if the Leafs attempted to send him back to the AHL.
The same concern goes with Troy Bodie, Frazer McLaren and Colton Orr. Bodie has scored two goals in limited ice time this season and has provided some energetic play in a checking role, while McLaren and Orr are still relevant in Carlyle’s scheme of being an aggressive physical team.
It is also uncertain whether GM Dave Nonis would risk trying to send down either Mark Fraser or Paul Ranger, in spite of their lengthy inactivity and how poorly both have played this season. With Toronto being in the thick of a race for an Eastern Conference playoff spot, having two veteran defensemen in reserve is a necessity in case of injury. With many teams looking to bolster their blueline before the trade deadline, trying to sneak either of them through waivers would be dangerous.
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