Freddie Andersen will start in goal for the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night against the St. Louis Blues, and from all accounts, it’s a “bounce back” game for the personable backstopper.
“Well, he wasn’t good enough,” Leafs coach Mike Babcock said when asked about Andersen’s recent spate of games in which he allowed 22 goals over four starts. “But at times of the year you have little dips, so you make sure you work hard every day so the dips don’t last as long and don’t happen as often.
“Freddie goes for us tonight, and it’s an opportunity to bounce back.”
Andersen, who sports a 22-11 record with a 2.81 goals-against average and .914 save percentage, agreed with his coach when it comes to work ethic. Andersen said the most important aspect for a goalie during a personal slump is to remain focused on his practice routine, and “just do what you do.”
“That’s all there is at this point, sometimes you lose your game here and there, but you battle back and work hard, and have good practices … that’s what its all about,” said Andersen, whose 43 games played so far this season match his total from last season, and is less than a dozen behind his career high in appearances of 54, set two seasons ago with Anaheim.
The Leafs have also struggled with their defensive-zone play in front of Andersen, a fact which he says every goalie must take into consideration.
“It looks bad when five and six goals are going in, and you feel worse than you played,” Andersen said. “Me and Stevie (goalie coach Steve Briere) look at that a lot too, and it is what it is. But you have to bounce back, you take ownership of everything you do.”
Meanwhile, with the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang about a year away, Babcock was asked if he would accept the head coaching job once again for Team Canada, a position he’s held through the past two Games, both of them gold medal wins for Canada.
“If they’re going (there’s no agreement yet on whether NHL players will play in the Games), and whoever the management team is, if they ask me, I’ll have time to consider it. How’s that?” Babcock said.
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