On to the next one

Shortly after the Toronto Maple Leafs' comeback attempt against the New Jersey Devils fell short, defenceman Carl Gunnarsson was holding court with the media, trying to explain how his muffed shot from the point in overtime led to the winning goal - for the other team.

There is only one other player in the dressing room at the time. Sitting in his dressing stall with a pained look on his face as he stared at the floor was goaltender James Reimer. The 23-year-old has played in two games since returning from concussion-like symptoms and fate has not been good to him. Two games - two losses.

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It's not that Reimer played poorly in either. In fact, after allowing two power play goals before the game was 10 minutes old, Reimer shut the door on the Devils until David Clarkson beat him at 2:40 of the extra period.

The amazing thing about Reimer is how he is able to put losses quickly behind him. In very short order the media horde finds its way to his dressing stall and as he begins to answer questions, the familiar ear-to-ear grin reappears. Some goalies might have scoffed at the notion of talking with reporters after such a heart-breaking loss. Others may have done so unwillingly, but offered up mumbled one-word responses.

Not Reimer.

His ability to put losses behind him - not that he has had that many in his brief NHL career - is one characteristic that will serve him well as he develops. Reimer hadn't played a home game since Oct. 19 and said it felt good to be back on the ice at Air Canada Centre.

"Hockey is what I love to do and playing at home is always the most fun, playing in front of the fans … the crowd … the city," Reimer said. "That's where the game is the most fun - the most special. So to come out here at the start of the game was pretty awesome. I'm pretty disappointed that we couldn't come out with the two points, but besides that, it was fun to be back here."

Reimer was anointed the No. 1 goalie in Toronto this season after bursting onto the scene last year with a 20-10-5 record. It was his strong play that got Toronto back into playoff contention after a dismal first half to the year. Reimer rewarded the Leafs with a 4-0-1 record to start the season before he was injured. Now he's got a little competition for playing time. Jonas Gustavsson has won five of his last six starts and seems a lot more comfortable between the pipes than he was earlier in the year.

Reimer is working hard to find his winning form.

"I feel like I'm getting better every game," Reimer said. "Obviously the first game back there was a couple of bugs. I felt I was reading the play well for the most part, but there were some things I knew I could work on. Today, for the most part, I fixed a lot of those and I got closer to getting back into the groove. With each game that I have played since I came back I feel better and better. Hopefully we can keep it going and I'll only let in two next time."

When the game ended Tuesday night, nobody was pointing the finger as the reason why the Leafs were defeated. In fact, most were impressed with his performance.

"He was great," said defenceman Luke Schenn. "You can't fault him for any of the goals. We left some tough plays for him out front and a couple of tough seam passes through the middle. He had a couple of tough open nets that he had to deal with. Obviously it was a great shot by Ilya Kovalchuk that beat him, but he was great after that. We gave them some more chances, but he made huge timely saves - like he usually does - so he's a welcome addition back there and we're definitely happy to have him back."

"He played well," added Leafs coach Ron Wilson. "He made some big saves when we needed him - when we got sloppy. He was there when we needed him."

Reimer was sidelined the first time the Maple Leafs played the Devils this season, Nov. 3 in New Jersey, but welcomed the opportunity to battle future Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur who secured the 631st victory in his storied career. Reimer trails Brodeur by 607 wins.

"You look at the game we played him last time, I think it was his first game after coming back from an injury and maybe he was a little rusty," Reimer said. "Watching that game from a goalie's perspective I think he had a couple of bad breaks. There were a few goals that weren't his fault, so you knew he was going to come out and play well today and sure enough he did. We had a couple of really good chances and he stoned us. Good on him. He has a billion wins for a reason - he can make big saves. It was pretty cool to play against him, but I would have liked to be the one cheering at the end of the game."

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