Gustavsson

[Deebo]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XKawBAz9n4[/youtube]

 

[freer]

IMO, Gus is looking so much better over his last two start because the team is finally playing well in front of him. He has some really excellent saves last evening especially in the first period. If the team can continue playing that way in front of him, we should not have very many issues.

The team on the whole is really getting good at keeping the shots from the outside and blocking a lot of chances with active sticks in the passing lanes.  Many times last night Tampa had the puck in the Leafs zone for an extended period but couldn't get a quality shot on net due to blocked shots.  It's a nice thing to see.

Agreed fully, but you have to admit the save on the two on one in the first was freaking excellent

 

[Zee]

IMO, Gus is looking so much better over his last two start because the team is finally playing well in front of him. He has some really excellent saves last evening especially in the first period. If the team can continue playing that way in front of him, we should not have very many issues.

The team on the whole is really getting good at keeping the shots from the outside and blocking a lot of chances with active sticks in the passing lanes.  Many times last night Tampa had the puck in the Leafs zone for an extended period but couldn't get a quality shot on net due to blocked shots.  It's a nice thing to see.

Agreed fully, but you have to admit the save on the two on one in the first was freaking excellent

Oh yeah i'm taking nothing away from Gustavsson, he's been great the last few starts.  You look at the scoreline of 7-1 and think he had an easy night, but he made some real tough saves.  Same as the Washington game.

 

[cw]

The team on the whole is really getting good at keeping the shots from the outside and blocking a lot of chances with active sticks in the passing lanes.  Many times last night Tampa had the puck in the Leafs zone for an extended period but couldn't get a quality shot on net due to blocked shots.  It's a nice thing to see.

NHL.com link for team blocked shots

I don't regard those 'real time' stats as super reliable because stats studies have shown they vary from building to building. But shot blocking is a little less subjective than some of the others.

The Leafs currently lead the league in that stat. How precise that is, I don't care to debate as I'm not sure - in part because the Leafs have been top 9 or better since '08.

Some of it can be because the other team has the puck a lot in those previous years ...

But I doubt they could be that high in the rankings if they weren't doing a bunch of shot blocking. Credit to them and their coach for that.

 

[riff raff]

Last year, around this time, Gus was playing really well but the team wasn't scoring - sometimes at all. There were a lot of 2-0 losses. Then, eventually, Gus lost his mojo altogether.

This year, they seem to be able to score for him. We'll have to wait and see if he loses his mojo again anyway.

 

[Champ Kind]

After his first start against Boston, Gus has put up a 2.62 GAA and .912 SV% in 8 starts.

That's solid, didn't realize he was that good after that first start.  I have no issues with him right now, even the goal last night which was a bit suspect was off a one-timer.  The way he played after that goal says a lot about his frame of mind, he seems very confident now and can bounce back after a goal.

The last few games I've noticed he's far less scrambly in the net. Wilson seems to think so as well according to his post-game presser. He just needs to keep himself calm and not over-exert himself in movements.

Bang on.  More composed, fewer unnecessary movements that lead him to being out of position.  His puck handling is still sub-apr, and may alsways be that way, but he's looking more confident in his positioning.

 

[ZBBM]

Not so long ago the standard trope was that the team couldn't play well in front of him because of Gus's flaky/blamethrowing personality, that they had no confidence in him.  This was never true.  And I hope, though I don't expect, never to hear in trotted out again when, as is inevitable, he has a bad game.

 

[cw]

Not so long ago the standard trope was that the team couldn't play well in front of him because of Gus's flaky/blamethrowing personality, that they had no confidence in him.  This was never true.  And I hope, though I don't expect, never to hear in trotted out again when, as is inevitable, he has a bad game.

I watched the players congratulating him after the game. They kind of have a ritual of gently knocking heads. A bunch of them seemed very sincere in their appreciation. Phaneuf in particular seemed to spend a little extra time with him giving words of encouragement. That said much more to me than some of the crap I've read in the media.

 

[riff raff]

Not so long ago the standard trope was that the team couldn't play well in front of him because of Gus's flaky/blamethrowing personality, that they had no confidence in him.  This was never true.  And I hope, though I don't expect, never to hear in trotted out again when, as is inevitable, he has a bad game.

I watched the players congratulating him after the game. They kind of have a ritual of gently knocking heads. A bunch of them seemed very sincere in their appreciation. Phaneuf in particular seemed to spend a little extra time with him giving words of encouragement. That said much more to me than some of the crap I've read in the media.

Kessel in particular seems really, really happy for him.

 

[Tigger]

Not so long ago the standard trope was that the team couldn't play well in front of him because of Gus's flaky/blamethrowing personality, that they had no confidence in him.  This was never true.  And I hope, though I don't expect, never to hear in trotted out again when, as is inevitable, he has a bad game.

I watched the players congratulating him after the game. They kind of have a ritual of gently knocking heads. A bunch of them seemed very sincere in their appreciation. Phaneuf in particular seemed to spend a little extra time with him giving words of encouragement. That said much more to me than some of the crap I've read in the media.

Kessel in particular seems really, really happy for him.

I noticed that big grin after the horn too, a genuine look to me.

 

[ZBBM]

3rd win in a row for Gus.  Two blowouts (although in the first 7-1 win he stopped over 40 shots IIRC) and now a close one where he shuts the door in the SO.  Hopefully this further solidifies his confidence and puts to end once and for all the questioning about whether he's got the goods to be the backup.

I hope Reimer comes back not missing a beat (although that's asking a lot) and then we will have a pretty good tandem in net.

 

[Zee]

3rd win in a row for Gus.  Two blowouts (although in the first 7-1 win he stopped over 40 shots IIRC) and now a close one where he shuts the door in the SO.  Hopefully this further solidifies his confidence and puts to end once and for all the questioning about whether he's got the goods to be the backup.

I hope Reimer comes back not missing a beat (although that's asking a lot) and then we will have a pretty good tandem in net.

As Millen said "all he's doing right now is winning"

Also he was in Position A for goalies.

 

[moon111]

As bad as Gus was at over-exerted, scrambly movements in front of the net, I thought his performance got worst when he got too stiff.  He's putting it all together and looking natural.  With every game being so important in the close standing, lets hope he can maintain some consistency now.

 

[caver]

With Gustavsson's strong play of late, Reimer's return will add another capable goalie but I don't expect him to play any better than the Monster is right now.

 

[anton girdeaux]

Genuinely pleased for Gustavsson, and it's amazing what a bit of confidence does for a hockey player.

I still wonder if he'll get a contract for next season based on the emergence of Scrivens.

 

[Tigger]

I'd like to think he would, obviously we'll have to see how the season goes but to me there's no doubt who the better goalie is right now.

 

[L K]

Genuinely pleased for Gustavsson, and it's amazing what a bit of confidence does for a hockey player.

I still wonder if he'll get a contract for next season based on the emergence of Scrivens.

I still have a hard time getting past the disparity in quality of teams they have faced.

Scrivens - Columbus (GOOD-W), Boston (L-BAD), Florida (relief-BAD), St. Louis (GOOD-W), Ottawa (L-Bad goal) - Phoenix (L-Good), Nashville (L-Bad goals), Carolina (Good-L)

He's 2-4-1 with reasonable stats.  But he lost, or played poorly in relief against every playoff team in his starts except St. Louis.  He played well in some of the others, but to me, he let in goals bad enough to kill the team in Boston game, the Florida game (killed any chance of a comeback with goals that were as bad as the ones Gus got blamed for in the 2nd), gave up a bad one in the Ottawa game (but the Leafs deserved to lose), and was awful against Nashville.

Gustavsson on the flip side has faced Boston, Montreal, Philly, Pittsburgh, Washington, New York (Rangers), Tampa, Dallas, New Jersey, Ottawa, Florida.  Of those teams only Tampa and Ottawa are non-playoff teams.  Gus hasn't been great or anything but he had to come in cold and struggled early but for the most part he has played well outside of Boston games.  Now he's doing what you need from your backup, winning more than he loses as he is 7-4. As long as he can do that, the Leafs make the playoffs.

 

[Redleaf]

Hopefully this further solidifies his confidence and puts to end once and for all the questioning about whether he's got the goods to be the backup.

I like his game of late, but I'll only be convinced its for real once Reimer starts getting the lions share of games and if Gus continues to play well coming in cold every 5th or 6th game.

 

[Zee]

With Gustavsson's strong play of late, Reimer's return will add another capable goalie but I don't expect him to play any better than the Monster is right now.

Reimer is better because his rebound control is better than Gustavsson and his positioning is more consistent.  Where Jonas gets in trouble is the follow up shots off a rebound where Reimer might not have given up a rebound on the same sort of shot. Also I don't see Reimer out of position as often as Gus.

 

[Tigger]

Hopefully this further solidifies his confidence and puts to end once and for all the questioning about whether he's got the goods to be the backup.

I like his game of late, but I'll only be convinced its for real once Reimer starts getting the lions share of games and if Gus continues to play well coming in cold every 5th or 6th game.

If you take what Burke and Co. have said the original plan, before Reimers injury, was to have Jonas play more like every 3rd game or even a little more, something like a 50-30 split on the season.