TORONTO — It was yet another night where Jonathan Bernier left the rink without a victory. Another evening where he was dealt an unneeded helping of frustration.
And yet, despite his 11th loss in 11 appearances this season, Bernier improbably regained the Toronto Maple Leafs No. 1 goaltending duties in the process.
“That’s the great thing about life,” said coach Mike Babcock. “If you just work hard and prepare, it’s amazing how breaks go your way.”
The break in this case was an unspecified lower-body injury to Garret Sparks early in Thursday’s game against San Jose. Whatever is hampering the rookie is expected to keep him out “long term,” according to Babcock, and that would appear to give Bernier the reins — at least until James Reimer is ready to play again.
No timetable has been provided for Reimer’s return. It’s been more than two weeks since he even participated in a full practice.
What we know for certain is that Bernier will get an opportunity to build on a solid relief appearance by starting against the Los Angeles Kings, his former team, on Saturday night.
“He’s got to dig in and he’s got to compete and he’s got to battle and he’s got to find his mojo,” said Babcock. “He gets an opportunity now that he might not have gotten. So work; keep it.”
Consider it the latest instalment of “How The Leafs Goaltending Carousel Turns.”
This season has already featured enough goaltending plot twists to make it worthy of a soap opera, and until now, Bernier has been in the hard luck role more often than not. Once entrenched as the organization’s goalie of the present and future, his career outlook is now clouded by uncertainty after a disastrous calendar year of 2015.
Bernier has posted an .899 save percentage in 42 appearances since Jan. 1 — a sample size that accounts for nearly 1,200 total shots — and his confidence has been greatly eroded as a result.
However, he posted three shutouts during a recent conditioning stint in the American Hockey League and didn’t seem to have much doubt in his game after unexpectedly getting thrown in against the Sharks. He made a number of difficult saves and only lost in overtime when Brent Burns’ shot banked in off the leg of teammate Peter Holland.
“I don’t know what I’ve done wrong to someone because I can’t get that one bounce,” said Bernier. “I thought I made the saves I had to make. Obviously you want to stop all of it, but I felt pretty good about my game tonight.”
There was a flashy glove stop on Marc-Edouard Vlasic and a sharp blocker save on Brenden Dillon. And shortly after Vlasic scored through a screen to narrow Toronto’s lead to 4-3 in the third period, Bernier denied Chris Tierney on a penalty shot.
He subtly pumped his glove in celebration.
Bernier later kicked out a pad in the dying minutes to deny Joe Pavelski’s dangerous tip and probably would have had a victory if the Leafs hadn’t found iron on three separate occasions during the game.
“We wanted to get this one for him for sure,” said Holland. “To lose it like that kind of sucks.”
The Leafs got absolutely caved in during the opening period and also lost forward Nick Spaling to what appears to be a significant injury.
Nothing was going right.
As for Sparks, he never really looked comfortable at any point and pulled himself at 11:32 after Patrick Marleau scored on San Jose’s 14th shot to make it 2-0. They were less than ideal circumstances for Bernier to get thrown into the game, especially with several fans at Air Canada Centre booing him upon arrival. But the jeers would soon turn to cheers.
“Let’s be honest guys — he never thought he was playing,” said Babcock. “It’s not even like you’re getting ready in this situation right now coming to the rink.”
There should be no such uncertainty for the foreseeable future.
It’s only a start, but when you’re digging out of a hole as deep as Bernier has been in, it certainly counts for something.
