Toronto Maple Leafs goalie James Reimer Tom Szczerbowski-US PRESSWIRE
James Reimer is getting another turn in goal.
After starting just once in all of January, the Toronto Maple Leafs netminder will start his second straight game against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday after earning a 1-0 shutout win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday.
Leafs coach Ron Wilson said after practice Friday that he wanted to reward the hot hand.
"Reims is going to play," Wilson said. "It's who we feel most comfortable with and who's playing well. Reims deserves to back up the shutout he had the other night by getting another start."
The coach added that playing whoever wins gives his goalies extra incentive to play well, even though Jonas Gustavsson went 7-3-1 in January.
"That's Motivation 101: If you play well, you deserve to play a little bit more," he said. "Whether it's a forward or defenceman or in this case a goaltender. He won the game, but he was perfect in the game so he deserves another start."
Wilson is not expected to make any other changes to his lineup, which would mean defenceman Mike Komisarek sits as a healthy scratch for a second game.
The only other roster note is that fourth-line centre David Steckel is fighting a minor injury after blocking a shot and missed part of practice. He is probable for Saturday's game.
Notebook
- Wilson was asked about Carl Gunnarsson being all bruised up from blocking so many shots. Here was his reply:
"Those are the bruises that are left over from the beating he took from Joey Crabb last week [in a fight in practice] Trying to block all those punches that were thrown at him. He's trying to tell you it was shot blocking. Baloney!"
- There were a lot of Super Bowl questions from the TV media at practice, as many of the players are NFL fans and get together to watch games on Sundays.
The Leafs for the most part seemed to be picking the New York Giants, although Tyler Bozak and Wilson both went with the New England Patriots.
"Most guys are saying Giants," Bozak said. "Me, Kessel and Timmy Connolly are leaning towards Patriots."
"I'm rooting for the Patriots," Wilson said. "I respect what they've done since 2001. Basically they've been a model franchise, in any sport, to be that successful."
Toronto has had an NFL pool running all season that was apparently won by Colby Armstrong, much to the chagrin of many of his teammates.
"I don't know how," Bozak said. "He doesn't know anything about football, but I think he took it down."
Projected lineup
MacArthur - Grabovski - Kulemin Lupul - Bozak - Kessel Lombardi - Connolly - Crabb Brown - Steckel - Armstrong
Gunnarsson - Phaneuf Liles - Franson Gardiner - Schenn
Reimer