Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Reimer unhappy after being pulled against Red Wings

Pavel Datsyuk; James Reimer; John-Michael Liles

Detroit Red Wings’ Luke Glendening, left, battles for the puck with Toronto Maple Leafs’ Morgan Rielly during first period NHL hockey action in Toronto on Saturday, December 21, 2013. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

AP

TORONTO -- Toronto Maple Leafs goalie James Reimer wasn’t pleased with his performance in their 5-4 shootout loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.

Reimer was pulled after the first period when he gave up three goals on 12 shots and his team down 3-1. Jonathan Bernier relieved him and gave up one goal on 25 shots before losing in the shootout. After the game, Reimer vented some frustration.

“I don’t know if there’s a goaltender in the league that’s happy when they get pulled,” Reimer said.

When asked if he wanted to stay in an battle through it, Reimer said he wanted to do that.

“You want that chance to get in there and fight and battle for your teammates and try and get a win,” he said. “But obviously Randy [Carlyle] had other thoughts, and he’s the coach and he’s the one who makes those decisions. I just try and stop pucks.”

Carlyle was asked about his thought process behind switching out Reimer for Bernier and while he didn’t put Reimer down, he was critical of the goals he allowed.

“I thought the rebounds were bouncing away from him,” Carlyle said. “When a goaltender is in the zone, pucks usually don’t go through him, and their third goal went through him. I felt that the wrap-around goal was a stoppable wrap-around and his stick was extended and it hit the heel of his stick and went in the net. ... So I made the decision if we got through the period that I was going to put Bernier in.”

Reimer allowed goals to Pavel Datsyuk, Joakim Andersson, and a spin-o-rama-like backhand by Tomas Jurco. The Leafs play again on Monday on the road against the Rangers. Reimer’s start last night was his third in a row. Perhaps Bernier gets the call once again.

Follow @JoeYerdonPHT