Andersen can’t save one-and-Dunn game
BLUES 2, MAPLE LEAFS 1
TORONTO Frederik Andersen was asked Tuesday morning whether there would be challenges for the goaltender coming off a bye week.
“Just getting back in the feel of it again, feel like having your feet under yourself,” the Toronto Maple Leafs netminder said. “It’s about coming back with a really good sense of urgency and putting together some wins.”
Several hours later, Andersen put some muscle behind his words.
Andersen was the best Leaf on the ice against the St. Louis Blues at the Air Canada Centre, making 40 saves, but his teammates could score just one goal in support and the Blues left with a 2-1 overtime win.
Vince Dunn scored the winner at 1:43 of the extra period, beating Andersen with a low shot on the stick side on an odd-man rush.
That came not long after Blues goalie Carter Hutton stopped William Nylander on a breakaway.
Both teams were coming off their bye week. The Maple Leafs, who had not played since losing at home against the Ottawa Senators last Wednesday, finished a sixgame homestand with a record of 2-2-2.
The Leafs were holding onto a 1-0 lead in the final minute when Alex Steen put an Alex Pietrangelo rebound past Andersen to tie the game with 57 seconds remaining. The Leafs had several chances to clear the puck but were unable to do so. On the goal, Ron Hainsey was right there, but could not react in time to get the puck before Steen used a backhand to score.
Connor Brown broke a goalless tie at 10:10 of the third period when he scored the Leafs’ third shorthanded goal of the season.
Brown burst past a diving Pietrangelo to take control of a bouncing puck and skated in alone on Hutton. Brown, buried on the fourth line for much of the season, waited for Hutton to commit and then roofed the puck over the netminder’s glove.
Earlier in the period, Morgan Rielly, who made a couple of big gaffes in the Leafs’ final two games before the break, made a fine defensive play to track down Ivan Barbashev, who had a brief breakaway on Andersen.
The Blues remain the only NHL team against which Auston Matthews does not have a point. Matthews has played the Blues four times now.
After the morning skate, Leafs head coach Mike Babcock was asked whether the bye would help sharpen his team’s focus.
“Great question. I don’t know the answer to that,” Babcock said.
“The bye week puts more games back to back, more games closer together, but the bye week gives you a break where you get to breathe and you get to rejuvenate and feel good.”
The Blues didn’t have much to worry about early. They were outshooting the Leafs 6-1 before the game was two minutes old.
In the first two periods, neither goaltender was tested regularly or with vast amounts of difficulty. Still, some saves stood out. Andersen made a point-blank save on defenceman Robert Bortuzzo, who has one goal in 44 games, midway through the first and later got a pad on a Steen shot. After Travis Dermott gave the puck away in the second, Andersen snared a shot by Patrik Berglund.
Hutton wasn’t as busy, but had to be on the ball to make saves on Tyler Bozak, who was set up by Connor Carrick, and Nazem Kadri.
There’s little excuse for it, but Kadri’s slump continues, as he has scored one goal in 17 games. The Leafs like their balance up front, but Kadri hasn’t been holding up his end for a while now. Kadri has not recorded an assist in 20 games.