All hail Frederik Maple Leaf goaltender outplaying Vezina winner Braden Holtby
The finest goaltender through two thrilling games between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Washington Capitals has not been the reigning Vezina Trophy winner. It’s been Frederik Andersen. The Leafs stand even at one game apiece with the favoured Caps largely because Andersen, the National Hockey League’s only Danish goaltender, has outplayed Braden Holtby — last season’s Vezina Trophy winner. Andersen stopped 47 of 50 shots in Saturday’s double-overtime, his team prevailing in the 91st minute on the second of two goals by rookie Kasperi Kapanen.
“He was by far our best player tonight,” Jake Gardiner said after the 4-3 triumph, the 26-year-old logging 40-plus minutes on the Leafs battered back-end.
Toronto only stood a shot of making noise against the Caps, who had 55 wins and 118 points during the regular season, if their 27year-old No. 1 stood toe to toe with Holtby and, so far, he’s done that. In fact, Andersen has been just a touch better than Holtby, a likely finalist for the Vezina once again this year after posting 42 wins, nine shutouts and a .925 save percentage in the regular season.
Andersen has stopped 88-of-94 shots through two games for a .936 save percentage while Holtby has turned aside 82-of-88 shots for a .932 clip. But dig even deeper than that and Andersen’s numbers get even better. The Dane has stopped 80-of-83 shots at evenstrength (. 964) and 13-of-14 high-danger scoring opportunities for Washington (. 929) — the latter at five-on-five.
Holtby, by contrast, has denied 71 of 76 at even strength (. 934) and 11 of 13 of high-danger chances (. 846).
Andersen was especially effective early on Saturday evening and then again late in regulation and throughout the two overtime frames.
Most notable was his denial of Caps captain Alex Ovechkin on a breakaway with 27 seconds left in the first OT. In all, Andersen denied 16 shots in the two overtime periods, adding 13 more saves in a third period owned by the Caps.
“He was outstanding in Game 1 and obviously, he was no slouch tonight,” said Morgan Rielly, who also clocked in at over 40 minutes and scored the Leafs’ third goal.
Most impressive to the 23-year-old was Andersen’s “calmness” between the pipes, an even-keel aura that seems to extend to his personality off the ice. Rielly described him as “calm, calculated and quiet.
“I think that just translates to his play and what he’s able to do to help this team is huge,” Rielly said.
Andersen’s confidence has been apparent in how he’s emphatically snatched shots out of the air with his glove and fired the puck — sometimes excessively — to teammates up ice. Between the first and second overtime, Andersen tried to keep himself hydrated, grab a snack and “stay focused.”
He was equal parts brilliant and errorprone in Game 1. His 41 stops in the 3-2 overtime loss were all that allowed the game to even get to overtime, but he was caught offguard and couldn’t find the Matt Niskanen shot which allowed Justin Williams to eventually tie the game at 2-2.