One of the storylines heading into the latest instalment of the Battle of Ontario was the strong play of James Reimer.
His .932 save percentage was best in the NHL among goalies with at least 22 appearances.
Well, he lasted less than eight minutes and had a .625 save percentage Saturday against the Ottawa Senators as his Toronto Maple Leafs teammates left him out to dry.
It was clearly not Reimer’s night, but Don Cherry blamed the goals on poor decisions from the “dummy defencemen” on the Maple Leafs.
“You’re taught this in Junior B, you never go at the guy [on a 2-on-1],” Cherry said on Coach’s Corner live from Kamloops, B.C., on Hockey Day in Canada. “Three goals go in and he gets pulled? I feel so sorry for him a great goalie like that…I’ll tell you one thing, boy, it’s not the forwards and it’s not the goaltenders, it’s the dummy defencemen playing for the Leafs right now.”
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Cherry has always been a supporter of the Leafs’ netminder. In November he referred to Reimer as the best goalie in the NHL at the time and added that the Maple Leafs have treated Reimer unfairly for several seasons.
Reimer is a pending unrestricted free agent and his future with the team is up in the air.
