Goaltending suddenly seems to be the least of the issues for the pc28¹ÙÍøMaple Leafs.
Rookie goalie Jonas Gustavsson put in a solid enough effort last night in a 2-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators that no one will be pining for the days of Andrew Raycroft.
But now rookie Viktor Stalberg – one of the few feel-good stories of another moribund start to the season – is out with a possible concussion after a big first-period hit.
And Luke Schenn – one of the few feel-good stories from an awful 2008-09 campaign – looks as if he’s lost a step and his confidence.
Stalberg didn’t return for the second period. He was to be observed overnight.
“He got his bell rung from (Anton) Volchenkov,” said Leafs coach Ron Wilson. “I don’t have anything further to report.”
His departure forced Wilson into line juggling. More changes are to come after that lacklustre effort.
“That was almost an embarrassing effort from seven or eight guys we count on heavily,” said Wilson. ”(We were) playing on the perimeter, not wanting the puck, not willing to take a hit to make a play, jittery when you do have the puck.
``We stunk, period.’’
Tyler Bozak would be wise to stay by his phone.
“We’ve got to figure out whether it’s line combinations, whether it’s calling some of the guys up from the minors who provided the spark in the pre-season,” Wilson said. “There are a few guys who made the team based on last year, not on what they did in training camp. I need to find a way to light a fire under a few guys.”
The goaltending controversy that started with Vesa Toskala’s sub-par four periods may have ended with Gustavsson, who seemed calm, controlled and confident in net.
He stood up to shooters, gave them little to shoot at, and controlled the puck around his net.
The two goals that beat him were of the rare variety:
Shean Donovan batted the puck out of mid-air, with video replay unable to determine if it was with a high stick, for a 1-0 lead at 6:45 of the second period.
Daniel Alfredsson scored on a penalty shot 37 seconds later.
“I thought he was going to shoot, and he fooled me,” said Gustavsson of Alfredsson’s goal. “We played better as a team, it was an even game. Too bad we couldn’t get a point.’’
Does the Monster (whose nickname was chanted prior to the game) believe he’s won the top job?
“I’m just happy to get a chance to play,” said Gustavsson. “I’ll work hard and see what happens.”
“There was nothing he could do on those goals,” said Wilson. “Alfredsson made a great move on the penalty shot. The other one, you could argue it was a high stick. It was inconclusive. We turned it over in the neutral zone, turned it over. We shouldn’t have been in that position.”
Garnet Exelby was to blame for the turnover on the first goal.
He didn’t see much ice time after that.
But Schenn took a high sticking call when he was beaten by Milan Michalek that led to Alfredsson’s winner.
“Luke’s got to just plain play better,” said Wilson. “He hasn’t played as well as he can. On that penalty shot, it was his man who went through. It ended up, at the end of the night, that moment cost us the hockey game.”
Matt Stajan’s third-period power-play goal was a case of too little, too late.
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