Burmistrov, Jets redeem themselves vs. Leafs

The Leafs carried the play at times but managed to hold off the charging Stars thanks in large part to Reimer. But with Reimer overcoming an early softie and Toronto twice negating leads, the Leafs turned in their second strong game on this November homestand, a modest market correction from the bad opening month (1-7-2). He’s been backing up Reimer since Bernier went down.

The Leafs (2-8-2) led in shots and sustained offensive-zone time for the first two periods, but Winnipeg turned up the pressure in the third. Mark Scheifele produced Winnipeg’s other goal, his fifth of the season.

“Lupes, he’s been working really hard this year, I think, and he’s been doing a lot of good things”, Reimer said.

Chicago Blackhawks opened the scoring in first period on a power-play goal by Jonathan Toews.

McDavid went down in the 13th game of his rookie season, but in that time he had already established himself as one of the key players and catalysts on the Oilers. He was the Leafs’ best possession stat forward, scored the tying goal, and was basically an all-around menace to the Jets, being pesky on the forecheck and covering well for pinching defencemen on more than one occasion.

Reimer has his chance, one given to him early Monday when Bernier was deemed a little too banged up to make his third straight start. Afterward, Komarov was named the game’s second star, and deservedly so. The Jets (8-4-1) got the kind of effort they wanted in their chance to bounce back, even if it wasn’t a masterpiece. His linemates were beneficiaries of chances he created. Winnipeg was being called for a delayed penalty when Komarov tipped in a feed from defenseman Roman Polak.

“I’m starting to understand it creates secondary opportunities”, said Kadri.

Lupul, who had 10 goals and 21 points in 55 games last season for the Maple Leafs, has five goals in 11 games. Gardiner had to put on the brakes to keep Burmistrov from going directly to the net, and he couldn’t break up the pass that left Reimer helpless. After the Leafs had been pressing for the victor, it was tough to watch them catch a break like that.

You have to feel bad for this team. Like Lupul, they’re not coveted assets at this point in their careers and may find themselves out of the league altogether by season’s end.

Maple Leafs: Joffrey Lupul did a great job beating Jason Demers to the front of the net, and pounced on a rebound left in front by Antti Niemi.

– Martin Marincin plays a very quiet game. Fellow Manitoban Byron Froese nearly scored on a Brad Boyes set up, while Toronto did tie the score 1-1 on the power play. The Stars were trying to come back against a disciplined Leafs team, but Eakin let a few frustration show when he hooked Kadri.

A crowd favourite who’s adjusted his game the past two years, Reimer never seems to quite have the backing of the coaching staff or management.