Monster situation

For those of you who thought Jonas Gustavsson would simply hand the crease over to James Reimer upon his return to health, well, think again.

Reimer was anointed the Toronto Maple Leafs No. 1 goalie this season based on last year’s splendid play as a rookie. Hard to blame the Leafs, really. They haven’t had a dependable goalie since Ed Belfour left town following the 2005-06 season, so Reimer’s arrival, and his 20-10-5 record that nearly got Toronto in to the playoffs, was cause for celebration.

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The Smiling Stopper continued his inspired play early in this season, posting a 4-0-1 record in six games before being injured.

Gustavsson, meanwhile, has had his share of ups and downs in his three-year NHL career. He has not come close to establishing himself as a bona fide No. 1 goaltender. And yet, with a second straight win in New York City this season, The Monster has run his victory total to an impressive nine. That’s just seven shy of his single-season high of 16 two years ago when he was a much-publicized free agent signing.

On a night when his team supplied him with a 3-0 lead, Gustravsson was particularly strong late in the contest. The Leafs have been very generous when he has played lately, supplying him with an abundance of offence. Still, with the referees seemingly determined to keep the home team in the game with questionable calls against the Leafs, Gustavsson shut the door to enable his team to escape with a 4-2 win.

"We didn’t need him actually in the first half of the game, but in the second half, when they built some momentum, obviously we needed him to make a lot of big saves – especially in the last six or seven minutes," said Leafs coach Ron Wilson. "He stood big in some of those situations where the puck was tight around the net."

Toronto defenceman Luke Schenn, who was a physical force from start to finish, acknowledged Gustavsson’s contribution.

"We’re confident in both goalies and The Monster was great when Reimer went down," Schenn said. "He was great again tonight for us again in New York. He has a pretty good record in this building. I think he’s really confident here. He has been playing great for us all long and came up big for us again. It was a hard-fought win. They played us hard all night, but luckily we got some great saves in the third period and managed to hang on."

After two humiliating losses to the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins, the Leafs were looking for a rebound performance. With the New Jersey Devils waiting in Toronto to play them Tuesday night, they needed a little boost to feel good about themselves again.

As much as Gustavsson contributed to the victory, he wasn’t the only Leaf to stand tall.

The Leafs top line of Phil Kessel, Joffrey Lupul and Tyler Bozak owned the (lousy) MSG ice throughout most of the game. Lupul was the most consistent of the three, but the others played well, too. Kessel, the NHL’s leading scorer with 34 points in 27 games, showed off his passing skills time and time again and was rewarded with an assist on Cody Franson’s second goal of the year, a blast from the point in the first frame. He added a second assist in the second period.

With Mikhail Grabovski a late scratch, departing for Toronto in the afternoon to be with his girlfriend who was giving birth, Wilson decided to lean a little harder on his top unit in terms of ice time. He said they made that decision easy for him.

"They were back in form after the last two games when they struggled a little bit," Wilson said. "They could have had three or four more goals. Lupul was dangling tonight; Phil had a lot of speed and Bozak looked really good with some great movement on the power play and 5-on-5, as well. You see how well they’re playing and you just want to keep putting them back out there. They were dominating every shift. You’d see the Rangers gathering momentum and then you’d want to put them back out there and off-set what the Rangers were doing. They did such a good job of moving pucks and protecting it, that I wanted to play them a lot."

With the win, the Leafs continue to hang tough in the Eastern Conference. Though they were in first place not long ago, even being in sixth at this stage of the season is not disappointing in a season when the team’s top priority is to make the playoffs.

What will be most interesting in the next few games is, can Reimer regain his spot as the team’s No. 1 goalie, and, if he can’t, will Gustavsson be up to the task of challenging him for the job?

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