Toronto Maple Leafs: Freddie Andersen Has Brought His ‘A’ Game

One of the biggest questions when the post-season started for the Toronto Maple Leafs was which Freddie Andersen was going to show up?

It’s no secret that the Toronto Maple Leafs starting goaltender has struggled early in the season and in big playoff moments.

After four months off, many (myself included) thought we may see the Freddie Andersen stats from October since this post-season was essentially like beginning a brand new season.

However, in only two games played thus far, we’ve seen “Steady Freddie”.

Freddie Andersen Is The Key To Leafs Success

There were serious talks about Jack Campbell getting action during this series against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

At this current moment, that sounds actually insane but it’s true.

Roughly two months ago, I talked about Andersen and the high-pressure he would be facing against the Blue Jackets.

Outlined in that article were key arguments about his October save percentage and goals against average. Let’s look back on those numbers again and compare them to his play thus far.

Andersen’s October Numbers:

• 2016-17: 0.876 SV%, 3.71 GAA
• 2017-18: 0.896 SV%, 3.45 GAA
• 2018-19: 0.919 SV%, 2.50 GAA
• 2019-20: 0.901 SV%, 3.00 GAA

As we look back at those numbers, it was very easy to think that the Freddie Andersen we would be seeing in this post-season would be the one we saw the past four years to begin the season. However, in only games, here’s his stats:

• 2019-20 Playoff Stats: 0.982 SV%, 0.50 GAA, 54 Saves on 55 Shots

If I were to tell you that these would be Andersen’s stats after two games, you’d put $1000 on the fact that the Toronto Maple Leafs would be up 2-0 in this series looking for a sweep on Thursday.

However, the fact that Andersen has done this in two games and the series is only 1-1 is a joke.

Thank goodness the leaders on the Leafs delivered in Game 2 and scored a few goals for Andersen, because it looked like they may not ever score again after the first period.

Every single chance the Leafs had was getting stopped by Columbus and it felt like the Leafs weren’t going to be able to reap the rewards of Andersen’s great play.

Although Andersen has been spectacular over his first two games, we’ve already seen 13 instances in 20 career playoff starts where he’s allowed three or more goals.

In a regular season game, I wouldn’t have any issue with Andersen allowing three goals because the Leafs offense is good enough to score five goals every night and win. However, in the playoffs it’s a lot different. If a team scores three goals in a game in the playoffs, they’re most likely going to win.

Everything is a lot tighter during this time of the year, so being able to score five or six goals in a game against Columbus and bail out their goaltender if he’s having a bad game is going to be hard to do.

Either way, it’s great that the Leafs were able to tie the series 1-1, but at the same time, not winning Game 1 when Andersen was playing out of his mind may come back to cost this team.

Hopefully this Freddie Andersen keeps his play strong because the Leafs will need him if they have any chance at beating the Blue Jackets.