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.
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