Speaking of the Gardiner Expressway, Jake Gardiner is nursing an injury and will not be available to the Maple Leafs tonight. Martin Marincin will draw back in for Gardiner—a downgrade, to be sure.
While the Maple Leafs have been improving in all areas of their game systemically and generally look like a new team playing in Maple Leafs jerseys, they’ve been shooting at fairly low shooting percentage—unlucky or untalented, you decide—and getting poor goaltending from the starts of games from Bernier.
In any sport, it’s hard to gift a lead and then try and claw your way back into it, which is what has been happening for the Maple Leafs for most of the games that Bernier’s started this year.