Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Andersen easily early Leafs MVP

Veteran goaltender key to team’s success, particular­ly over Toronto’s last 10 games

- TERRY KOSHAN tkoshan@postmedia.com twitter.com/ koshtoront­osun

TORONTO Inquiring minds needed to know late Wednesday night.

Is this the best hockey Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen has played during his NHL career?

“I don’t know,” Andersen, bashful as usual, said after a 2-1 shootout victory over the Calgary Flames at the Air Canada Centre. “I think I just want to take it one game at a time.

“It’s really important to be able to flip the page and stay present because you want to keep going and get ready for the next game. A new team is going to come and it’s going to be a challenge, too.”

The Leafs are 10-3-1 in their past 14 games, largely because of the goaltendin­g of Andersen, who has successful­ly put behind a mostly rough month of October to raise his save percentage to .922.

The Leafs have required Andersen to be sharp each night he skates into the crease.

Toronto has allowed 801 shots on goal at even strength, third-most in the NHL before Thursday’s games were played. Andersen’s 648 saves at even strength easily were the most in the league, with Mike Smith of the Calgary Flames second with 582.

The Leafs have given up at least 40 shots on goal five times this season, all in the past 10 games. Andersen has been in net for each of those five games and the Leafs are 4-0-1.

Gone are the soft goals Andersen was giving up every so often. There hasn’t been much deflation among his Leafs teammates when the opposition does score because it has become Andersen’s habit to make difficult saves look relatively easy.

Andersen’s play has been more crucial for a few reasons. The Leafs’ depth at forward has afforded coach Mike Babcock more time to find the most effective line combinatio­ns, but just as importantl­y, Andersen’s performanc­es have given the coach a longer leash in that regard.

If there are defensive-zone breakdowns, or the inability to move the puck up the ice freely, Andersen has been there to cover up any mistakes that are made.

Difficult starts, which Babcock must find a way to get out of the Leafs’ system, have been smoothed over on many nights because of Andersen.

“It’s something we really have to clean up,” Leafs winger Matt Martin said.

“We seem to be doing that a lot, whether we have a morning skate or don’t have a morning skate, we come out flat and it’s something we have to address, especially at home.

“We should be pumped up to play in front of our fans and we have to make teams realize it’s not an easy place to play.

“We kind of put ourselves behind the eight-ball a little bit, but Freddy has been really good for us. We have to find a way to pick it up another level.”

Andersen’s .922 save percentage is his best since his rookie season of 2013-14 with the Anaheim Ducks, when he finished at .923 in 28 games.

In the three seasons since, Andersen’s top save percentage came in 2015-16, his last year in Anaheim, when he had a mark of .919 in 43 games.

There have been no indication­s Andersen is tiring from the workload. Backup Curtis McElhinney has played in only four games, though that likely will grow to five this weekend when the Leafs have their fifth back-to-back set out of 14 this season, with a visit to Pittsburgh on Saturday followed by a home date versus Edmonton on Sunday.

Bottom line is Andersen has been the Leafs’ most valuable player. As Mitch Marner indicated after Andersen made a season-high 47 saves in the Leafs’ 2-1 shootout win against the Flames, the 28-yearold has been the teammate the Leafs depend on more than anyone else.

Toronto boasts a record of 18-101 heading into a meeting with Sidney Crosby and the Penguins on Saturday, secure in the knowledge their 37 points put them firmly in second in the Atlantic Division.

They wouldn’t have such a lofty spot without their soft-spoken netminder from Denmark.

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