Montreal Canadians centre Scott Gomez, right, is stopped by a lunging Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Jonas Gustavsson during NHL hockey shootout action in Toronto Saturday.Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press
The goaltender, as the hockey cliché goes, has to be your best penalty killer.
Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Ron Wilson will argue there are other reasons for his team's recent improvement in killing penalties, but he had to admit that goaltending was at the top of the list.
"Consistency from both of our goalies really helped," Wilson said after the Leafs' morning skate in preparation for Tuesday night's game against the Florida Panthers. "Jiggy [J.S. Giguere]coming in was a big help."
Going into Tuesday night's game against the Florida Panthers, the Leafs were killing penalties at an 83-per-cent clip, a number that would put them in the NHL's top 10 if it were stretched out over the season. However, thanks to many sins earlier this season, the Leafs remained last in the league overall with a 73.3-per-cent success rate.
Statistically, the obvious culprit is former goaltender Vesa Toskala. The dramatic rise of the penalty-killing unit started on Jan. 31 when Toskala was shipped to the Anaheim Ducks for Giguere. Up to that point, Wilson said, the penalty killers were operating at a success rate of about 60 per cent when Toskala was in goal, compared to about 80 per cent in front of rookie Jonas Gustavsson.
While the addition of the veteran Giguere, who will start in goal against the Panthers, settled the goaltending picture, Wilson says there are a few other factors in the unit's success. One is the other trade made on Jan. 31, the one that brought defenceman Dion Phaneuf and winger Fredrik Sjostrom.
Both players brought speed and aggressiveness to the penalty killers. Combined with the goaltending and a couple of tweaks in how the Leafs check in the neutral zone, it resulted in a sea change.
"It was a little of all those things," Wilson said. "Freddy Sjostrom showed up in the same trade with [Phaneuf]and they had a huge impact."
There was also one improvement from the homegrown Leafs. Defenceman Carl Gunnarsson's return from an elbow injury in mid-January helped solidify things.
The Montreal Canadiens, who have the second-best power play in the league (22.8-per-cent success rate) and the best one on the road, discovered the improvement last Saturday. The Leafs took a 3-2 shootout win in part because they held the Habs' power play to one goal in six opportunities.
With no hope of making the playoffs, seeing a strong improvement in penalty killing is one of the things the Leafs regard as the key to a successful final few months of the season.
"Our goal now is to improve daily in all areas of the game," said Wilson. "We want to teach the game the right way for all of our young guys so they have experience for training camp next year."
Leaf winger Luca Caputi may get back in the lineup tonight after spending a few days battling the Norwalk virus. Wayne Primeau will probably sit if Caputi plays.
The Panthers have a shot at the playoffs but it is mostly a mathematical one. Before Tuesday's game they sat 11th in the Eastern Conference with 69 points, seven behind the Boston Bruins who held the eighth and last playoff spot.
"We have the right personnel," said Panthers captain Brian McCabe. "We just haven't performed to our capabilities this year."
Scott Clemmensen will get the start in goal for the Panthers at the Air Canada Centre. Still out with a foot injury is forward Gregory Campbell.