No goalie controversy

Five years from now – what the heck, five minutes from now – no one will remember the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Columbus Blue Jackets on Nov. 3, 2011.

No one, that is, except Ben Scrivens. The Leafs’ third-string goalie got his first NHL start and made the most of it, beating the Blue Jackets.

What the Leafs will instantly recall, no doubt, is that the victory continued their Hollywood start to the season. To the Jackets’ credit, they out-shot Toronto 39-18, but their own goaltending was their undoing. Steve Mason, who is now well-entrenched into Andrew Raycroft and Jim Carey territory, was unable to come up with saves when his team needed to be propped up.

The funny part about the whole day was how some people reacted when they heard Scrivens would be the starter. It was as if the Maple Leafs had decided to nail Jacques Plante’s butt to the bench to give some scrub off the street the start.

Talk about making a big deal about nothing. A third-stringer replacing a second-stringer – stop the presses! The Leafs could have played their goaltending consultant, Francois Allaire, in net and stood a good chance of winning.

In other words, there is no goaltending controversy in Toronto. That’s because there is no true-blue, dyed-in-the-wool No. 1 goalie in Toronto, no matter what the Leafs tell you and regardless of what their early-season record is. The Leafs, and their goalies for that matter, deserve full credit for their autumn swoon. They’ve played well.

James Reimer, with a grand total of 43 NHL games to his credit, is the starter. Jonas Gustavsson, who has performed admirably in Reimer’s absence while he nurses an upper head, er, body injury, has played 72 NHL games, but has a rather ordinary 26-31-11 career record.

Scrivens is unbeaten – in his one NHL game. You get the picture, right? One good team, three inexperienced goalies. How can that lead to controversy?

Scrivens deserved the opportunity to play his first NHL game Thursday night. The circumstances could not have been more perfect. The Leafs entered Columbus on a high, and the Blue Jackets, well, they kind of suck. Why not give the kid a start?

Toronto coach Ron Wilson didn’t announce his starter prior to the game, as is his prerogative, and then explained why.

"When I came down here this morning I told Scrivens (he’d play) and I told The Monster he’d be the backup," Wilson said. "I said (to both goalies), ‘Don’t say anything; we don’t need this circus (looking at the media) bothering a young kid who’s got to play his first NHL game… and he played a great game.

"He has played well in the American League, and maybe somewhere along the line I should have given him a start because we do believe he’s going to be a big-time goalie and he showed that tonight. He is economical in his moves and he’s got a lot of poise."

After the victory, Scrivens sounded a little like an actor who had just been handed the Oscar.

"It’s been a lot of hard work, and I can’t tell you how many people have helped me along the way," Scrivens said. "The guys in Reading (ECHL) helped me last year, and the guys in the Marlies (AHL) helped me last year and this year, and that gave me the chance to play well in preseason. We got out-shot, but I thought the guys blocked a lot of shots. I gave up a few more rebounds than I wanted to, but… unfortunately my family couldn’t be here tonight, but hopefully I’ll get to play in another one and they’ll get to see me play live some time."

Toronto was out-shot 11-4 in the first period, but carried a 2-0 lead to the dressing room. Not only that, the NHL’s worst penalty-killing team was shorthanded twice and did not allow a goal. The two penalties, both against Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf, were marginal calls at best, but Scrivens stood tall, letting the refs off the hook. At the end of the night he said it wasn’t the penalty killing in the opening frame that was responsible for his first victory.

"I was into the game anyway, so I didn’t need a pump-up, but it was good to feel the puck early and make a few saves," Scrivens said. "We don’t want to take penalties in order to give me work, but I thought the guys did a good job on the kill."

And Ben Scrivens did a good job in his first NHL start.

Veteran hockey columnist Mike Brophy will cover the Toronto Maple Leafs for sportsnet.ca for the 2011/12 season.