Busy workload hasn’t come without hitch for Leafs’ Andersen

Frederik Andersen is headed for one of the busiest seasons in NHL history.

The 27-year-old is on pace to face 2,173 shots in his first season with the Toronto Maple Leafs in what would be the 15th highest total ever. Only 31 times in league history has a goaltender faced even 2,100 shots in a single season - Pekka Rinne and Cam Ward the last to do so five years ago.

Facing four shots per-game more this season than last with Anaheim, Andersen should blow by a career-high for shots faced in one season by the weekend. But the busy workload hasn’t come without a hitch or two in the first go-around for Andersen, a part-time starter previously with the Ducks. Andersen has posted an .894 save percentage since Jan. 1. That includes a superb 38-save effort in a 2-1 overtime defeat against St. Louis on Thursday night.

“Well it hasn’t been good enough but there’s times in the year you have little dips,” Leafs coach Mike Babcock said before facing the Blues. “You’ve just got to make sure you work hard every single day and those dips are shorter and they don’t happen as often.

“So that’s the challenge for him.”

Unlike Cam Talbot, who’s been rather consistent while leading the league both in shots faced and starts for the Edmonton Oilers, Andersen has been up and down. There were significant October woes (.876 save percentage), stupendous highs in November and December (.939), and a series of lows in January and early February. He hasn’t been helped at times either by the Leafs sometimes wobbly defensive play.