See more Toronto Sun on Google — save as a Preferred Source Give Anthony Stolarz the ball. Or the puck, the opportunity, the chance — whatever you want to call it.
Doesn’t that amount to a no-brainer for the Maple Leafs regarding their goaltending right now? Poor netminding by Sergei Bobrovsky cost the Leafs a point, and possibly two, in a 5-4 loss in Seattle against the Kraken on Wednesday.
In the super-tight Atlantic Division — in which just six points separated the first-place Boston Bruins and eighth-place Detroit Red Wings before National Hockey League games on Thursday — there’s no reminder required that points squandered at the end of October won’t be there for the taking in the playoff push in March and April.
Once they’re gone, they’re gone. When Bobrovsky couldn’t stop a Brandon Montour slapshot in the final minute on Wednesday after Colton Sissons was beaten on a defensive-zone draw by Matty Beniers, a goal that Leafs coach Jim Hiller rightly called “a dagger” in the post-game aftermath, the Leafs didn’t have time to recover after making a valiant effort in the third to tie the game.
When the Leafs absolutely needed a save, Bobrovsky couldn’t provide one. The Bobrovsky performance followed a tough night for him in Calgary against the Flames on Monday and was not a one-off.
We wouldn’t be calling for more of Stolarz if it was. Why is Bobrovsky’s record this season a concern?
Nine of Bobrovsky’s 10 Leafs starts have included at least three goals against. Through Wednesday, the 33 goals allowed by Bobrovsky were second-most in the NHL, though we note that with 602 minutes played, Bobrovsky was the fourth-busiest goalie in the league.
To use one goalie by comparison, the Bruins’ Jeremy Swayman had played one more minute than Bobrovsky, but allowed 11 fewer goals — tell us that difference hasn’t had an impact on the Atlantic standings. At 7-6-2, the Leafs were clinging to the second and last wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference before 11 NHL games were contested on Thursday night.
Granted, the Leafs haven’t been what anyone would call air-tight in front of their goalies. At five-on-five, Toronto has allowed, per naturalstattrick.com, 135 high-danger scoring chances.
Only five NHL teams had given up more. Bobrovsky’s high-danger save percentage is .772, 55th among all NHL goalies.
Stolarz was 10th at .897. And as we’ve said before, if general manager John Chayka is successful in somehow finding a way to add a defenceman, a single person won’t turn the Leafs around defensively.
A potential return of Chris Tanev, out since suffering an upper-body injury against Colorado on Oct. 10, against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday should help, but won’t strike off all the of the Leafs’ defensive issues.
What’s troubling, or should be for the team, is that we keep hearing from the players how impressed they have been with Bobrovsky’s preparation, routine and full professional approach to everything he does. We’re not questioning whether any of that is true.
Where, though, is the impact on all of that on Bobrovsky’s ability to stop the puck? Why is he beaten routinely on high shots, whether it’s on the glove side (more often) than the blocker side?
Why hasn’t Leafs goaltending coach Curtis Sanford been able to throw a curveball at what is becoming an obvious part of game-planning on the part of opponents when Bobrovsky is in net? What should come next in the Leafs crease?
At 38 and with another two years remaining on his contract with an average annual value of $7 million, Bobrovsky must be the source of some measure of concern the Leafs’ front office. True, it’s the same front office that ignored Bobrovsky’s bad final season with the Florida Panthers upon locking him down for three years.
The Leafs had a scheduled day off on Thursday and are slated to practise on Friday in Vancouver before the trip’s finale against the Canucks. How Artur Akhtyamov is trying to find groove with Marlies, while Ben Danford is on proper trajectory Gavin McKenna's milestone night for Maple Leafs undone by Sergei Bobrovsky in loss to Kraken Stolarz has been sharp in his past two starts, which included wins against Edmonton and Columbus.
He’s 4-1-0 in five games with a .907 save percentage. Start him in Vancouver.
Give him the net again on Tuesday, when the Leafs play host to the Utah Mammoth to start a six-game home stand. Bobrovsky needs some non-game time to work out some kinks.
With three wins in his first 10 games with Toronto, the veteran of more than 800 NHL games hasn’t been good enough. tkoshan@postmedia.com X: @koshtorontosun
