REACHING FOR THE SKY
Maple Leafs keep visiting Flames at bay with shootout victory,
The Maple Leafs ability to score has covered up a lot of problems. And on nights when goals are at a premium, it’s goaltender Frederik Andersen who covers up a lot of problems.
Such was the case Wednesday night when the Calgary Flames could have argued they deserved a better fate as the Leafs won 2-1 in a shootout over their Western Conference rival.
Auston Matthews and William Nylander beat Flames goalie Mike Smith in the shootout as the Leafs improved to 2-1 this season in the tie-breaker.
Defenceman Morgan Rielly scored in the second period as the Leafs have now picked up points in 11 of their last 14 games.
Andersen has never lost in regulation (7-0-1) to the Flames in the reg- ular season.
The Leafs give up a lot of shots — more than 33 a game, fifth in the league — and Wednesday was no exception, with Calgary becoming the fourth team in Toronto’s last seven games to eclipse 40 shots, getting to 48 with the five-minute overtime.
There comes a point where you have to wonder how long the Leafs can keep doing this to their starting goalie.
Andersen, who leads the league in minutes played, was pummeled again, both with pucks shots at him and by Calgary Flames flying into him from all angles.
There’s no question the Leafs would not be where they are without him. His game rounded into form in November when he went 9-2-1with a 2.14 goals-against average and .938 save percentage.
He rarely gives up a bad goal, or one that deflates the team. And with his teammates habitually getting off to sluggish starts, Andersen is typically the best Leaf in the first period.
There was a palpable sense of rivalry on Wednesday at the ACC.
After all, the Leafs had beaten Calgary five times in a row at the Air Canada Centre and came into the game holding a 59-58-12 (with four overtime losses) all-time against Calgary.
As well, the Leafs and Flames have a rich history of personnel transfers, be it players like Doug Gilmour, Dion Phaneuf or Matt Stajan switching sweaters in franchise-defining trades, or general managers Cliff Fletcher and Brian Burke switching executive suites.
And there’s a huge GTA contingent of players on Calgary’s roster, with the likes of Sam Bennett, Dougie Hamilton, Sean Monahan and Mark Giordano responsible for about 150 family and friends in the stands.
And maybe to rub a little salt in the wound, the Maple Leafs feted the Grey Cup champion Toronto Argonauts at centre ice before the game. The Argos, of course, beat the Calgary Stampeders.
The Flames also came in wanting revenge because the Leafs beat them in Calgary last week, 4-1. That was part of a swoon in which Calgary had lost five of their past seven.
“We’re not feeling as well as we think we can,” Giordano said before the game.
“We’re still in that spot where we’re within striking distance (of a playoff spot). We have to get on a roll where we can feel good about ourselves.”
And just like they might have imagined, the Flames took a1-0 lead in the first period.
It was Giordano with a long wrist shot during a power play that got things rolling in a tight-checking first frame. It was his fourth goal of the season, at 10:37.
Rielly got the only goal of the second period. It was Rielly’s fourth goal of the season.