TORONTO – Mike Babcock walked up to his other overtime hero, William Nylander, Thursday night and charged him one more task before bedtime: “Go thank Freddy.”
Frederik Andersen — the busiest man in the National Hockey League — bailed out his team, coming out on the happy end of 1-0 goalie duel against a New Jersey Devils squad that stormed his crease like bumblebees.
Andersen turned away 42 shots in the shutout, including eight in a wild fourth period in which he was forced to be the home side’s primary penalty-killer after Jake Gardiner took an offensive-zone interference penalty.
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Ever buzzing, Taylor Hall and Kyle Palmieri snapped seven shots apiece. Andersen stood tall, covering others’ missed assignments.
“That’s why you pay the goalie,” Babcock said.
The great big Dane has now won four straight starts, three of which were pushed to OT or shootout, and a league-high 11 games for Toronto.
In a masterful bite of revenge against a young, fleet New Jersey club that hung six on him when they rolled through Air Canada Centre a month ago, Andersen outdueled a razor-sharp Cory Schneider, whose three first-period goal-line swipes amounted to nothing better than a loser’s point.
“For me, it’s about keeping my team in it as long as I can and giving them a chance to win,” Schneider said. “We had several chances, but Andersen was one better.”
Said Devils coach John Hynes: “If we play like we did tonight most nights, we’re gonna win the game.”
This wasn’t most nights. Most nights Maple Leafs goaltending coach Steve Briere (a.k.a. the Freddy Whisperer) pumps up his star pupil’s confidence by showing Andersen footage of his best save work. In advance of the Devils tilt, Andersen was challenged to control and smother his rebounds after being shown video of how New Jersey has scored most of its recent goals.
“We call them smartshots,” Hynes explained. “Can you shoot for a stick, a tip, a rebound? If you’re in the scoring area, you want to shoot to score, but it’s more often the quickness and accuracy of a shot that creates scoring off those shots or they create second and third chances.”
Andersen steered those smartshots to the dunce corners or gobbled them like Smarties.
“We generated good looks. It’s not a matter of trying to do more. I thought we played pretty stingy, too,” said former Leaf Brian Boyle, the 6-foot-6, 240-pound obstacle New Jersey planted in Andersen’s paint. “You saw some good goaltending.
“When he’s on, he’s a player. He’s a good guy, he works hard, and he played great tonight. He’s a big man, and he was competing in front. He was giving me some whacks—didn’t expect that from Freddy.”
Here is something we did expect from Freddy: Andersen has played more hockey this season than anyone in the league. During Thursday’s sweatfest, he became the first NHLer to crack 1,000 minutes of playing time (1,025:24). And with backup Curtis McElhinney exclusively dealt back-to-backs, expect Andersen to start the Leafs’ next four.
Andersen credits the heavy (excessive?) workload for helping him push through a shaky October and build his save percentage back up to a respectable .909.
“The confidence and belief of the coaching staff and the organization has been huge for me. [The constant work] is a good way for me to settle down and keep working to get where I want to be,” Andersen said.
Chicken or egg: Which comes first, the hockey team tightens defensively, or the goalie starts making the big stops?
When the Leafs were surrendering too many Grade-A chances, it was Andersen who bore the brunt of the criticism. It’s easier to point at the mistake that directly results in a goal as opposed to the mistake that led to the mistake.
Yet you’ll never hear his teammates throw him under the bus.
Last month, in a thoughtful conversation with a couple writers, Morgan Rielly doubled-down on his trust in Andersen.
“The best pitchers in baseball go through dry spells. The best quarterbacks in football go through dry spells. Never once was there a moment I was concerned about his mentality at all,” Rielly said.
“Goalies have tough jobs. You’re out there on an island, it feels like. But the way he’s able to keep composed and really control the game. He knows the game. He knows when to hold onto pucks, when to put rebounds into corners or into the mesh, like on point shots that are on angles. If we’re hemmed in, he knows how to play the puck. On the PK, he’ll shoot it to our feet for us. He’s outstanding. He’s a huge part of a lot we do.”
Andersen always skates on game days and is always willing to talk (even if it’s with an octave so low, you’re tempted to mush your recorder into his lips). Even during his shakiest spells — and there’ll be more — he faces the hard questions and criticism.
“He’s calm, he’s quiet. Focused. But by no means is he like a pitcher where he wants to be left alone. He’s comfortable being around the guys, being himself. That’s good,” Rielly said. “He’s very laid-back. He can get ready under any circumstances. That’s his demeanour.
“We were never of the opinion that he had a tough start. That wasn’t talked about amongst guys at all.”
On this, a first-goal-wins kinda night, Andersen deserves a thank-you.
“It’s fun,” Andersen said. “You enjoy a good goalie battle, especially when you come out on top.”
