Ben Scrivens was certainly the soldier the Leafs needed.
On the eve of Remembrance Day, Scrivens churned out an inspired effort, helping the Leafs win 3-2 in overtime against the St. Louis Blues, despite a Blues offence that barraged the Leafs for two-thirds of the game. Despite the steady assault on Scrivens, the Leafs rookie stood tall and stopped all three shots in the shootout to secure the win.
The Leafs raced to a quick start, scoring two powerplay goals in the first period. John-Michael Liles wristed one past a screened Jaroslav Halak from the top of the circle. On another man advantage, Phil Kessel chipped the puck past Halak, adding to his league lead with 12 goals and increasing the lead to 2-0.
From there, the Blues took it to the Leafs.
St. Louis clawed their way back, using their size and strength to hem the Leafs into their zone for sustained periods. Jason Arnott made it 2-1 on the powerplay when he onetimed a nice Pietrangelo feed from the slot. Then, with three minutes to go and the Blues trailing by, the home team pinned the visitors into their defensive zone, leaving Steckel, Lombardi and Fratting gasping for air when the puck finally cleared the zone.
But the Blues were resilient and tied it up when Patrik Berglund jamming the puck at the lip of the crease. The Blues outshot the Leafs 30-8 in the final two frames of the game.
Sufficed to say Scrivens was sharp.
He made several highlight reel saves, including a sprawling arm save on Steen who was wide open at the side of the net. Coming into the game there were major concerns about the goaltending situation and who should start.
With the way Scrivens played tonight, he's silenced the controversy, at least for a little while.
10.11.11
5.11.11
Bruins Pummel Leafs... Again
For all the talk about the Leafs atop the NHL standings, leave it to Tyler Seguin and The Champs to bring them back to earth.
Coming into tonight's game, the Leafs were tied with Pittsburgh Penguins for first in the NHL with 19 points, while the Bruins have been reminded time and time again of their slow start as a result of their Stanley Cup hangover. But it was the Leafs who looked like they had one too many, as their clumsy play left rookie goaltender Ben Scrivens apologizing to the bench. It wasn't his fault -- his teammates simply left him out to dry in a 7-0 routing.
Tyler Seguin buried a beauty onetimer from the dot to make it 1-0 after the Leafs failed to cover passing lanes on the penalty kill -- that's right, another goal against with a man down. Seguin struck again early in the second, followed shortly by Horton splitting the defense and wiring one five hole on Scrivens only seven seconds later. And nothing could be done on Seguin's hat trick goal, a top-shelf beauty after striding past a slow-footed Komisarek.
So while the Leafs should feel good about their start, they are a long way from even being a contender in the playoffs. If there's one thing the Leafs can learn from the B's, it's to step up when they need to most.
A win against the Bruins tonight could have sent Leaf Nation on a frenzy and proved a point to the rest of the league that they could be the real deal. Instead they're left wondering who that slow, uninspired team was that took a beating at the Air Canada Centre. They've reignited the Seguin-Kessel comparisons, even with Kessel's strong start. And they've created nothing short of controversy about their goaltending situation.
One game and the team is slumping. Confidence is fleeting, isn't it?
Coming into tonight's game, the Leafs were tied with Pittsburgh Penguins for first in the NHL with 19 points, while the Bruins have been reminded time and time again of their slow start as a result of their Stanley Cup hangover. But it was the Leafs who looked like they had one too many, as their clumsy play left rookie goaltender Ben Scrivens apologizing to the bench. It wasn't his fault -- his teammates simply left him out to dry in a 7-0 routing.
Tyler Seguin buried a beauty onetimer from the dot to make it 1-0 after the Leafs failed to cover passing lanes on the penalty kill -- that's right, another goal against with a man down. Seguin struck again early in the second, followed shortly by Horton splitting the defense and wiring one five hole on Scrivens only seven seconds later. And nothing could be done on Seguin's hat trick goal, a top-shelf beauty after striding past a slow-footed Komisarek.
So while the Leafs should feel good about their start, they are a long way from even being a contender in the playoffs. If there's one thing the Leafs can learn from the B's, it's to step up when they need to most.
A win against the Bruins tonight could have sent Leaf Nation on a frenzy and proved a point to the rest of the league that they could be the real deal. Instead they're left wondering who that slow, uninspired team was that took a beating at the Air Canada Centre. They've reignited the Seguin-Kessel comparisons, even with Kessel's strong start. And they've created nothing short of controversy about their goaltending situation.
One game and the team is slumping. Confidence is fleeting, isn't it?
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