Andersen raises his game to win the battle against Price
His two victories over division rival this season give Leafs early cushion
The first big question when facing the Montreal Canadiens is whether you can beat Carey Price. The 33-year-old has been among the best netminders in hockey since he debuted in the NHL in 2007-08.
The second big question is whether your goalie can be at least one goal against better than Price. This year, Montreal’s scoring is as good as any team’s in the league, so goaltending is important.
And so far, the Maple Leafs’ Frederik Andersen has been up to the challenge.
Andersen has won both games the Leafs have played against the Canadiens this season; Price has lost both games. That is largely the difference in the spread between both teams as the North Division in the first quarter of the season. The Canadiens trailed Toronto by five points heading into their game against Edmonton on Thursday night. Montreal visits Toronto on Saturday.
“(Andersen is) making critical saves and timely saves when you really need them,” Leafs defenceman Justin Holl said. “He’s allowing us to find our game, he’s allowing us to catch fire at the right time. So I really can’t say enough good things about what he’s done for our squad.
“He’s feeling it. And it’s really great for us.”
Since joining the Leafs before the 2016-17 season, Andersen has put up some impressive numbers against Montreal, going 8-2-1 with a .920 save percentage and 2.74 goals-against average.
Price is 4-3-5 against Toronto over the same span (they don’t always face each other), with a .903 save percentage and 2.96 goals-against average.
Head to head, Andersen seems to raise his game a tad, posting a better save percentage (.917 to .897) and better numbers involving dangerous shots (.843 to .815 from the slot, for example.)
Those numbers include seasons when the Leafs weren’t particularly good in their own zone. They have been demonstrably better in their zone this season.
Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe has been praising his team’s ability to cut down on those dangerous chances. He doesn’t mind shot totals so much — Montreal managed 35 Wednesday night. It’s the high-danger chances against he cares about.
The Leafs are doing a much better job of keeping their opponents to the outside, or blocking shots and preventing them outright, which should help Toronto’s goalies.
That’s mostly been Andersen, given Jack Campbell’s injury and the team’s apparent lack of faith in Michael Hutchinson. In the past seven games, Andersen is 6-0-1 with a .915 save percentage, far better than his start (.897 over his first five games).
“He looks calm, he looks confident, comfortable,” Keefe said. “I think those are the traits that we’ve come to come to know when he’s at his best.”
Andersen says he is keeping his game simple.
“Small movements, easy tracking, just being ready,” the goaltender said. “Reading the play well, and just keeping that focus on that one shot. It’s obvi- ously a bit more complicated than that, but being on top of the puck and seeing it well is the key to my game.
“When I play my best, it looks it looks easier than at other times.”
It’s all happening at an interesting time for the Leafs. Andersen is an unrestricted free agent in the summer. The 31year-old earns $5 million (U.S.) a year, the same cap hit as Robin Lehner, Semyon Varlamov and Pekka Rinne. But 12 active goalies earn more, with Price the leader at a $10.5-million cap hit.
If Andersen asks for a raise, he could price himself off the Leafs, since there isn’t much extra money to go around in this flat-cap era.
If the Leafs sign Andersen to an extension during the season, they would likely expose Campbell to the Seattle Kraken expansion draft. If they wait, they could lose Andersen as a free agent.
Andersen has had a short leash as far as the team’s fan base goes, never quite having earned their trust, though arguments over his lack of playoff success in Toronto and whether he needs more rest or less rest have abated with the team’s strong start. Arguments over whether he should be signed to an extension really haven’t started.