Reimer gets his mojo back

James Reimer didn't get the win, but he certainly got his mojo back. And that is very good news for a team that seems to be slipping closer and closer to being out of the playoff picture.

The second-year goaltender, who has been struggling to find his form since returning from a concussion Dec. 3, had his best outing in a while making 39 saves in a 3-2 shootout loss to the visiting Los Angeles Kings at Air Canada Centre Monday night.

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"The past couple of games I've been feeling better about my game; I've been doing the things I always do, but pucks haven't been hitting me," Reimer said. "Tonight I felt really comfortable and pucks were hitting me."

The Leafs, as a team, did not have a good game. That will come as no surprise to anybody who has watched them play the past few weeks. Make it three losses in a row for the Leafs (even though they get a point for getting the game to overtime) and five defeats in their past six games.

Playing against a team that was at the end of a four-game road trip and was coming off an 8-2 shellacking in Detroit on Saturday, you'd think the Leafs would have been all over the visitors. Also working against the Kings is the fact they recently fired their coach, Terry Murray, and having been playing under interim coach John Stevens, who will hand the ball off to Darryl Sutter as early as Tuesday.

The expectations for the Kings are very high this season so when they got off to a slow start, it was really no surprise they would make a coaching change. However, even with all the upheaval and with Mike Richards out of the lineup, the Kings looked quite good against the Leafs. Each team scored once in the first period and then Los Angeles took over the game in the second. Only the solid play of Reimer kept it close.

At the end of the night Reimer was left shaking his head at his bad luck, even though he said he was satisfied with the end result. On the opening goal of the game, Kings defenceman Drew Doughty fired a puck in from centre ice that ripped around the glass. It looked like it might go all the way around and out of the zone, but just as it got behind the Toronto goal, the puck hit a stanchion and bounced right in front of the goal onto the stick of Justin Williams who easily popped his fifth goal of the year. Then the Kings second goal, scored by Dustin Brown, appeared to be on a play that was offside.

Reimer said he wouldn't play things any differently than he did on the opening goal.

"I'm not the best guy when it comes to handling the puck -- as I showed early in the third period -- but on plays like that, when the puck is shot in around the glass, I have been taught to stay in my net," Reimer said.

"There are other goalies that are better than me at playing the puck who might go out after it, but that is not my style. You stay in your net just in case something happens. Even though I consider myself a very cautious goalie, when something like that happens, it always surprises you. There's nothing you can do."

Reimer's teammates were impressed with his contribution on the evening.

"I think he has played great since he came back, but he just hasn't gotten the results that he wanted," said defenceman Cody Franson. "Both he and The Monster (Jonas Gustavsson) have given us a chance to win night after night."

As for the fluke goal that opened the scoring, defenceman John-Michael Liles suggested, "It's a long year. We'll probably score one or two of those ourselves this season. There's really not much you can do about it."

In an attempt to shake his team out of its funk, Leafs coach Ron Wilson switched his lines up. The most significant move was inserting Tim Connolly between top-scoring wingers Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul and dropping Tyler Bozak down to the third line. With Colby Armstrong sitting out his first game with a concussion and David Steckel still sick, tough guys Jay Rosehill and Colton Orr were inserted into the lineup.

In the second period it was obvious the new lines were not clicking. The Kings out-shot the Leafs 16-4 in that frame causing Wilson to revert back to his old lines for the third period. Reimer said he was happy to hold down the fort while his teammates tried to figure things out.

"You always want to be there for the guys," he said. "You want to make the big save and keep them in it for as long as possible."

Brown also scored the game-winner in the shootout on a shot that hit the crossbar and dropped in over the goal line.

"Good for him," Reimer said, shaking his head. "Anybody that can go bar and down deserves to score. I tried to make myself as big as possible and I don't think I could have done anything differently."

The Leafs will tackle another struggling team Thursday at home when the Buffalo Sabres, who beat them 5-4 last Friday, are in town.

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