(12)
The Maple Leafs open a three-game Western road trip tonight in Los Angeles and the club will likely find out if goaltender Vesa Toskala's improved play is here to stay.
Beginning tonight, when the Leafs face the Kings, the club will be looking to their starting goalie to begin establishing a pattern of reliability.
After tonight's game, the Leafs bounce right back tomorrow night against the San Jose Sharks, the best team in the league at the moment. A day off Wednesday is followed by a game Thursday in Phoenix, then a return to the Eastern time zone Friday for a game Saturday against Washington.
The schedule marks a tough week for a Toronto team that finally put together a consistent effort Saturday to defeat a solid Philadelphia team 4-2, ending a five-game losing skid.
Toskala has only recently restored his team's confidence level. There was a two-week spell where, after a solid start to the season, soft goals were going in on a regular basis.
In the past two games, though, Toskala was the difference.
He lost in the shootout in Ottawa Thursday but made at least five game-saving stops over the final two periods to preserve a 1-1 tie. Against the Flyers, he was superb in helping the club nurse a two-goal lead in the third period.
"It's no secret you go as far as your goaltending will take you, and our goaltending struggled a bit," Leafs coach Ron Wilson said in reference to the recent spate of losses.
"Vesa had a bit of a mini-slump, but he's over that now, and we've got him back to where we need him to be."
That return to form didn't come without some extra work performed by the coaching staff and goaltending coach Corey Hirsch.
Toskala allowed some bad habits to creep into his game. After starting the season at 5-2-2, he was 2-4-3 in his next nine starts. That much-needed victory over the Flyers halted a personal four-game losing skid.
"In reality, when a goalie lets in a bad goal, the whole world knows about it," Wilson said. "You can call it a bad goal, and the only thing you can do is work on it in practice. (The slump) wasn't for a lack of effort. Sometimes the puck just looks small. But Vesa is anticipating the play again, and when a goalie does that, the puck begins to look big."
Like Wilson, Toskala is familiar with the Sharks. In his final season in San Jose in 2006-07, he posted a 26-10 record before being traded to the Leafs in the off-season.
When he returns to familiar ground Tuesday, it will be against a San Jose team boasting the best record in the NHL, at 20-3-1.
"I got a text from Joe Thornton and he asked me if I was worried," Wilson said.
"They're the best team in the league, and you look forward to playing them."
Tonight's contest will certainly test Toskala and the Leafs' newfound confidence.
"We're not at their level (Sharks), but you look at the game as a great opportunity to do something against them," winger Jamal Mayers said.
