BUFFALO, N.Y. – This can’t be labelled a disaster, not yet.
But were you to draw up a doomsday scenario for the Toronto Maple Leafs playoff aspirations, it would almost certainly involve an injury to workhorse goaltender Frederik Andersen.
We now await word on the severity of the upper-body ailment that took him from the crease after a busy 20 minutes against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night. Andersen faced 16 shots in the first period and had a couple small collisions with Buffalo players, but there was no obvious moment where he was shaken up.
It came as a surprise when backup Curtis McElhinney took the ice to start the second period, and the game soon faded from view.
Perhaps the Leafs were stunned, or even worse. They lost 5-2 and looked pretty listless in the process.
Toronto still owns third place in the Atlantic Division, but it doesn’t have much margin for error with the Islanders, Bruins and Lightning chasing close behind.
There isn’t anything in McElhinney’s past to suggest the veteran NHLer can carry the Leafs down the stretch if Andersen is unavailable. He was claimed off waivers from Columbus on Jan. 10 and is the third different backup the team has used this season.
Essentially, the organization placed its faith entirely in Andersen. There wasn’t a Plan B in goal.
The only time the Dane missed a start all year was the second half of a back-to-back and he was making his career-high 61st appearance on Saturday night. Worse still, he had been delivering his strongest play since arriving in Toronto with a .938 save percentage over the last 13 games.
He was a major reason for the enthusiasm that accompanied the team to Buffalo for a road game that felt like it was being played at Air Canada Centre.
At least in the early going, before Andersen was lifted from the game and Jack Eichel scored two second-period goals, punctuating the second by pounding the glass in front of a couple fans wearing Leafs sweaters.
Nazem Kadri had acknowledged prior to puck drop that he was already dreaming of a return to the post-season – something neither he nor the organization have experienced since 2013.
“But we do have to take it game by game because we know things can drastically change with a week of playing,” he added, prophetically.
The Leafs have eight games left in the regular season, including two back-to-backs, starting with a visit by Florida on Tuesday. The fanbase will be on high alert in the meantime – awaiting word on Andersen’s status and a potential plan to continue the playoff push without him.
On this night, his injury was significant enough to completely overshadow the continued brilliance from a special crop of first-year players.
Auston Matthews matched Wendel Clark’s franchise record of 34 goals as a rookie, William Nylander stretched his points streak to 11 games and Connor Brown scored his 18th of the year.
But none of that was on the minds of the thousands of people who got in their cars and headed back to Ontario after the final buzzer at KeyBank Center.
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