Toronto Maple Leafs and Jonas Gustavsson: Can He Be a True No. 1?

Is Jonas Gustavsson the Leafs' No. 1 goalie? I surely do not think so, at least not after his latest performance. He is mediocre at best; an average goalkeeper who doesn't have the ability to steal a game now and then.

Can anyone remember when the opposition had a breakaway and Gustavsson didn't get beat?

I cringe every time I see an opposing forward going in alone, as I know the score is about to change for the worse. It was no different tonight against the St. Louis Blues.

Apparently, even a three-goal lead in the third period is not enough of a cushion for the Leafs. Three goals in succession mid-way through the third period by St. Louis saw that three-goal Leafs lead evaporate.

Aside from straight shots beating Gustavsson at virtually every opportunity, he displayed a bumbling, goofy style of netminding that almost had him putting the puck into his own net on a few occasions. Only poor reviewing angles and dumb luck kept two of those off the scoreboard.

Granted, Gustavsson had little in the way of defensive help during the Blues comeback. The Leafs were caught out of position most of the third period and allowed numerous odd-man rushes while at other times the Blues forwards simply skated around the Leaf defensemen and powered toward the net.

Time after time all the Leafs could do was dump the puck to centre ice only to give St. Louis opportunity after opportunity in the offensive end. The Blues pounded the Leafs over and over, winning battles along the boards time and again. All the Leafs seemed to do was look like pussycats in comparison.

Whatever was served to team Canada between the second and third period last night must have gotten into the Leafs locker room tonight as Toronto had a similar third period meltdown.

I don’t know what switch went off in their collective heads.

When Phil Kessel took a pass from Mike Komisarek just as he stepped out onto the ice for his shift, and then proceeded down the right wing and beat St. Louis goalie, Ty Conklin, to make the score 5-2, I thought the game was in the bag. I though that even the Leafs would go on to win with a three-goal margin.

But that is just not the case with these boys. Either they ran out of gas or they were simply out-classed by a far superior team that obviously wanted the game more. Even though the Leafs won in overtime, this game was more like a fall-from-ahead loss.

At least Gustavsson got some practice in with one-on-ones during the shootout. After getting beat on the first two Blues attempts, he stopped the next two to allow the Leafs a come-from-behind win in the shootout mini-game, if not in regulation. Maybe that will springboard him into making a save on a breakaway during a real game.