COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Toronto Maple Leafs are in the middle of their 38th set of back-to-back games since Frederik Andersen arrived in the organization and until Friday there had been an unbroken pattern as to how those situations played out in net.
Andersen always got the first start on the schedule — each and every one of them — as head coach Mike Babcock tried to take advantage of the moments when his teammate’s legs would be freshest and the Maple Leafs had the best chance to claim two points.
That the streak ended here at Nationwide Arena with Garret Sparks starting Toronto’s first game out of the Christmas break appears to be a harbinger of things to come. The Leafs intend to find Andersen more rest before the playoffs and it will require them to alter their deployment strategy from years gone by.
“We just felt that after a break it’s important for Freddie to get some practice in,” Babcock said in explaining his goaltending decision following Friday’s 4-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. “Freddie is our guy and we’ve got to make sure he’s healthy. So we’ll probably do it after the next break as well. That’s the way we have it.”
Andersen has appeared in 66 regular-season games each of the last two seasons and is currently on pace for roughly the same number of starts again. That’s no longer the kind of workload you typically see from the No. 1 goaltender who lifts the Stanley Cup each June, with no one having played more than 60 games before a successful four-round playoff run since Jonathan Quick in 2012.
What’s really changed in Toronto is how much more comfortably the Leafs should be able to get by on nights when Andersen watches from the end of the bench.
They have already banked a boatload of points with a 25-10-2 start that is among the best in franchise history, and are scoring at a ridiculous pace of 3.79 goals per game — better than everyone but the Tampa Bay Lightning. It’s allowed them to win 7-6 and 5-4 on nights when Sparks didn’t have his best.
And on Friday night, with Sparks starting for the second time in five days, they saw the backup deliver a strong 27-save performance against a red-hot Blue Jackets team. He’s had some trouble handling long gaps of inactivity after playing big minutes in the American Hockey League last season and believes he’ll be sharper if given a better chance to get in a rhythm.
“It definitely felt like there was less rust than there had been in the past,” Sparks said of Friday’s start. “Every opportunity that I get to be in there it’s another opportunity to play in the NHL. You’ve got to do the most you can with it.”
They key, in the big picture, is what the extra rest might do for Andersen.
He last played in a 5-3 victory over the New York Rangers on Saturday night and managed to get in an extra workout with goalie coach Steve Briere here before Friday’s game. That should have him feeling fresh when he faces the New York Islanders to finish this back-to-back set at Scotiabank Arena.
After that, Toronto doesn’t play again until Thursday afternoon against Minnesota — giving Andersen added time to both work on his game and rest.
All told, he’ll make just three appearances in 13 days.
The Dane is off to the best start of his NHL career — among the league leaders in wins (20) and save percentage (.923) — but the goal is to keep him performing at a high level right into the playoff grind. He struggled in March last season and didn’t have a great series against the Boston Bruins afterwards.
Plus, there is a growing case that suggests Sparks can handle more work. The AHL’s reigning goalie of the year was particularly sharp during a 10-save second period against the Blue Jackets and now sports a .910 save percentage — a tick above league average in a season where scoring is up considerably.
He also has a 6-1-1 record.
“I’m just at a point now where I’m trying to make the next save and trying to focus on shot-by-shot, and not get too ahead of myself,” said Sparks. “When you get too wrapped up in that stuff — stats, numbers and stuff like that — [it’s not good]. All I care about is winning.”
Ultimately, that’s what the organization prioritizes above all else, too.
They are at the progressive end of the curve with a growing sports science department and nutrition specialists available to players both at home and on the road. They’ve obviously studied what the the ideal workload is for their No. 1 goaltender.
And here, kicking off the unofficial second half of their season, they veered from a well-established pattern in the crease.
It probably won’t be the last time, either.
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