The Toronto Maple Leafs and Columbus Blue Jackets didn’t have a lot of people outside of their respective cities predicting that either one would make the playoffs in 2013, but the Maple Leafs almost certainly will and Columbus has a real shot of advancing.
What’s changed? Their goaltending. 24-year-old Sergei Bobrovsky has carried the Blue Jackets into the playoff hunt while Reimer, 25, has bounced back nicely from a rough sophomore campaign that was derailed in part due to a concussion.
Both netminders made some huge saves on Monday. Reimer earned a 32-save shutout that included this gem when the game was still tied midway through the third period:
Mere minutes later Phil Kessel finally broke through the New Jersey Devils’ defenses en route to a 2-0 victory.
“Tonight was clearly a night for James,” Leafs defenseman Mark Fraser told TSN. “He was on fire, there’s nothing else to say.”
Bobrovsky wasn’t flawless last night, but he came up with a big save when the Blue Jackets needed him the most. You can see him beating Colorado Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog on an overtime breakaway below:
Nick Foligno went on to net the deciding goal in the dying seconds of the overtime period.