The New York Rangers take on the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight in a match filled with intrigue and speculation. The Leafs have fallen out of a playoff spot and may be ready to make a move and that could affect the Blueshirts.
The New York Rangers announced that Igor Shesterkin will be in goal tonight, surprising all observers who assumed that that would be riding Alexandar Georgiev‘s past success against a reeling Toronto squad. By going with Shesterkin, speculation about a potential trade hit a fever pitch.
The Maple Leafs are in trouble. They have been playing .500 hockey for the last month going 4-4-2 in their last ten games. They’ve been hammered by injuries, losing defenseman Morgan Rielly and rookie Ilya Mikheyev for weeks. The latest was an injury to top goalkeeper Frederik Andersen who was hurt in a collision with Florida’s Frank Vatrano on Monday night. Andersen left the game and didn’t make the trip to New York with a “neck injury.”
That means back-up goalie Michael Hutchinson will be in net and that doesn’t bode well for the Maple Leafs. He allowed the Panthers to come back from a 3-1 deficit Monday night, allowing three goals after relieving Andersen. That loss dropped the Maple Leafs out of a playoff spot as Florida leapfrogged them into third place in the Atlantic Division.
Hutchinson is having a mediocre season. He didn’t win his first start until four days before Christmas and he has a 3.62 goals against average and a .886 save percentage. And that’s why there is a lot of talk about Georgiev going to the Maple Leafs.
While he wouldn’t supplant Andersen as the top goalie, he would be a much better choice as a back up and would be able to step in and replace Andersen in case of an injury. The heart of the speculation is because Georgiev played his two best games in the NHL against Toronto last season. He won those two decisions stopping 99 of 101 shots in the process.
Georgiev has split two starts against Toronto this season, allowing six goals in a 6-3 loss on December 20 and allowing four goals in an overtime 5-4 win on December 28.
Why is Georgiev sitting tonight in favor of Shesterkin? There was no real reason given so the intrigue continues.