Great Expectations?

Jonas Gustavsson makes the most of the limelight, or lack thereof. After losing that limelight to the surprising James Reimer midway through the 2010-11 regular season, Gustavsson journeyed between bench-warming duties for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and goaltending duties for the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League. At the start of the current campaign, fans and management entrenched the "Monster" as the backup goalie after Reimer received a big three-year contract. However, James Reimer went down to injury (whiplash) in the away contest against Montreal last Saturday (10/22/11), and coach Ron Wilson had no choice but to rely on Gustavsson, who had low expectations from most in Toronto. In that game against Montreal (OTW 5-4), away games against Philadelphia (L 4-2) and New York Rangers (W 4-2), and then at home against the Pittsburgh Penguins (W 4-3), it was time for Jonas Gustavsson to surprise his critics with impressive performances against perennial playoff talent. I am still apprehensive whenever the "Monster" skates between the pipes for my Maple Leafs :( Perhaps it is the memory of his 68 goals allowed in only twenty regular season games from last year that makes me nervous, but after living through great Leaf backstops like Allan Bester and Peter Ing...I'm willing to overlook those statistics...for now. So far so good for the Monster; here is hoping he makes the most of his opportunity :) The next two games for the Maple Leafs are away contests against the Scum, I mean, Senators on Sunday and New Jersey on Wednesday, November 2nd. Already, I'm nervous o_O

(Special thanks to NHL.com for source data and video)