Curtis McElhinney will start in goal for the Leafs tonight when they face the Dallas Stars in the second of back to back games.
No. 1 goalie Freddie Andersen gets a rest after a 6-5 overtime loss to the Islanders in Brooklyn Monday night.
Andersen has seen his goals against count spike since the all-star break: In four games since the break, Andersen has yielded 22 goals.
Leafs coach Mike Babcock, in going with his backup goalie Tuesday against Dallas, simply said Andersen “gets a couple of days rest.”
As for the rest of the team potentially feeling fatigue from what is the eighth set of back-to-back games so far this season, Babcock would have none of it.
“I’ve said it before, but if we were playing junior hockey or (the minors) and you play three games in a row, and you never get tired,” Babcock said.
“Now, we tell them they’re tired so (they may think they’re tired ) … come on, let’s go.”
Babcock viewed the game tape — twice — from the loss in Brooklyn; the Leafs blew a pair of third-period leads and lost in overtime for the fourth time in eight games this season.
While the Leafs are in playoff position, by a point over Boston, Babcock reiterated what he felt after the loss Monday: his team is not playing the mostly sound defensive hockey it did last month.
“We were terrible in our own zone, and at our net, and through the neutral zone without the puck,” Babcock said.
“So any time we feel space, so like against Dallas last week, when we feel space offensively … and last night against the Islanders, we feel space offensively, and everyone gets feeling good good and we get dancing around and life is great, and we think we’re the 80’s Oilers.
“And then, bang, bang … We just yell at our goalie, here they come again, here they come again. It’s fun. I actually think our players are having fun, I think the crowd is having fun, and we leave pissed off every night. So why don’t we just play right.”
In the meantime, Babcock had definite feelings about the Bruins dismissing long-time coach Claude Julien Tuesday morning.
“Good man, even better coach,” Babcock said.
“When you make these decisions, you better have a guy in line that’s better than that guy. There’s not many, I can tell you that.”
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