The Toronto Maple Leafs played the second half of their back-to-back in Philadelphia, as Jonathon Bernier faced off against Steve Mason. The Leafs Flyers dominated play - they held the Leafs for 13 minutes without a shot on goal - in part because Toronto took a ton of penalties, including a penalty shot, but were fortunate that the Flyers went 1/7 on the PP. Vinny Lecavalier sent a brilliant pass to Brayden Schenn in the slot, as Franson, Fraser, and Bolland all miscommunicated the coverage, but a Kessel shot from the slot and a great pass from Lupul to Bolland put the Leafs up 2-1. Bolland then racked up the insurance goal on the power play. Your game in six:
It's interesting to see Bernier's style compared to Reimer. Where Reimer plays a little deeper, Bernier challenges a bit more. While Reimer is conservative with his stick, Bernier is quick to use his (though he didn't seem to be too effective). Ever since Hasek, I swore off pretending to know what habits are more effective at the NHL level, but it's a noticeable difference. It'll be really interesting to see who has a better career over the next few years, and Bernier's small sample size aside, it's really nice for the Leafs to be in a position where they have two talented goalies to choose from, rather than trying to pick which garbage fire has smoldered a little less recently.
Besides Bernier, Dave Bolland and Joffrey Lupul had a great night. Bolland had two goals, including one off a great feed by Lupul, straight through the legs of Luke Schenn. Kessel scored a birthday goal, because he's a great goal-scoring forward.
Ranger, however, wasn't very strong. He took three penalties, including a penalty shot, all because he fell behind the play. He saw 19 minutes on ice, but it may be a little longer before he looks comfortable with NHL-level play again.
Fraser was injured. I haven't seen anything about how long he'll be out, but I imagine that means Rielly draws in on Saturday against the Senators. It'll be interesting to see who starts, as both goalies have had a strong opener to the season.
The usual stats sites aren't up and running yet as TimeOnIce hasn't updated, but you can check out some great game stats here at ExtraSkater.com.
