NEW YORK — It almost goes without saying that the Toronto Maple Leafs wouldn’t be here without Frederik Andersen.
That’s both here: finally holding down a playoff spot in the Atlantic Division after a rough start out of the gate. And here: thriving under new head coach Sheldon Keefe, who has introduced some structural tweaks that have temporarily put more leverage on the NHL’s most-used goaltender.
“He’s been a huge leader for us,” captain John Tavares said of Andersen. “The saves he makes — the timely saves — and especially with the coaching change and some of the adjustments we’ve made defensively, he’s really helped out as we continue to feel our way through it and get more confident and comfortable with it.”
No wonder the Leafs felt so good about getting a win for Andersen on Friday night. It’s usually been the other way around over a topsy-turvy 36 games.
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The big Dane had to grind one out under the famous wooden roof at Madison Square Garden, with the New York Rangers seemingly reluctant to shoot whenever they got in his zone. Of course, three of their first 12 shots got behind him — in part due to costly defensive mix-ups, but also because he wasn’t at his absolute best.
William Nylander and Mitch Marner made sure it didn’t matter with goals 47 seconds apart early in the third period as Toronto rolled to a 6-3 victory to help Andersen earn his league-leading 18th victory.
“The message was just to keep going and stay with it,” said Keefe. “And the guys did and it worked out for us.”
“I think we just had a different mentality tonight,” added Nylander, who scored twice and is now on pace for a 30-goal season. “We knew it was tied 3-3 [entering the third period] and we had to go out and get the game.”
The best news of all is that Andersen will finally get a well-deserved night off after starting 13 of the last 14 games. The Leafs are turning to backup Michael Hutchinson with the last-place Detroit Red Wings in town Saturday to complete the back-to-back.
No NHL goaltender has started more games or played more minutes than Andersen this season. Only Calgary’s David Rittich has faced more shots: 899-896. There’s no question who Toronto’s MVP has been so far and, aware of the potential they’re overworking the No. 1, they’ve sought to find creative ways for him to have more rest.
“We’ve tried to be mindful of what he’s facing in practice,” said Keefe. “How many shots and where the shots are coming from and how long we’re practising for. I think you’ve seen at different times we’ve involved a third goaltender [in practice]. That’s helped out.
“We just try to do all those little things as we can.”
There are a few sure-fire ways to spell him off more in the second half — keep winning games to build up a playoff cushion and get Hutchinson (or someone else) adding points to the standings.
They are also endeavouring to play better in front of him and believe that progress has been made since Keefe replaced Mike Babcock on Nov. 20. Toronto has scored first in 10 of 13 games under the new coach and spent all kinds of time playing with leads while going 9-4-0.
As for what’s changed in a month?
“Back to the whole coach debate, it’s tough,” said defenceman Jake Muzzin. “Sometimes a message goes stale from a coach when he’s been around a long time and then you get a new life and guys feel more alive, I guess. The style of play — we’ve changed some things — which I think benefits our team and our personnel on the team.
“And then just getting us to compete and we’re learning how to play better. I thought we did a great job tonight at showing that.”
It only stands to reason that a team with Toronto’s offensive firepower should be able to win the odd game because of its scorers. Nylander and Marner finished with two goals apiece on Friday while rookies Pierre Engvall and Ilya Mikheyev had the others.
Auston Matthews chipped in with two assists, including a lovely end-to-end rush on Nylander’s game winner.
It helped the Leafs mask over one of Andersen’s few so-so performances and gave him the chance to bounce-back from a slow start with a 10-save third period.
In the big picture, they are starting to make winning look like a habit, just as it was for most of the last two seasons. That’s a dramatic turn from where they were in October and November.
“You know what, we’re going to be in a battle all season long here, right?” said Keefe. “We’ve seen progress, for sure, and I like that. Even at times when it hasn’t looked the greatest we’re still seeing progress.”
Such as winning a game where Andersen didn’t need to be the first star.
That’s both new and necessary.
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