Thursday, January 16, 2014

Bernier And Scrivens: Now What?

I was surprised when the Kings traded Ben Scrivens to the Oilers for Double-D, Devan Dubnyk. I guess this is going to make the off-season trade of Jonathan Bernier for Scrivens all the more interesting. Life throws more than hockey pucks at you, I guess. Scrivens will be seeing as many if not more than Bernier for what could be forever.

In an event, I can't help but wonder if the rise of Martin Jones had anything to do with this. My gut feeling is "no", but remember when I said that we hadn't seen the last of him? I can safely say the other Jonathan, Quick, has his job still safe.

So what does this trade do for the Bernier and Scrivens situation? I guess it levels the playing field somewhat. Scrivens is clearly on the worse team now. The Leafs though, have relied heavily on Bernier and James Reimer to get them wins, especially in the shootout.

But now the door is open for Jones to play in Los Angeles, and Scrivens to become what Bernier and Reimer are, a game stealer.

But if that 1st game is any indication, Scrivens will have to be better. Stopping 29 of 33 pucks wasn't enough as the Oilers lost 4-1 to the Wild. But the fact that he started his first game available for Edmonton suggests that he will at least be the 1A goalie on the team. That obviously was not going to happen in Los Angeles with Quick playing so well.

And another thing about the Los Angeles situation: Scrivens was backed by good defence, so his goaltending would get overshadowed! Sort of like what is said about Martin Brodeur always having the Devil's D to insure a low shot total against. I never have believed that the defence makes the goalie look that good. I guess I am about to find out in Edmonton

But now Ben has a chance to become like what Jonathan Bernier is in Toronto. Now we find out if he was the product of good defence or he was just that good. Imagine a scenario where the Oilers suddenly put together a winning streak with Scrivens in net? Oh, he was the difference!

Bernier, by the way, has continued his strong play since my last post. Remember when I talked about him being a "stopper" of sorts for the Leafs? As in losing streak stopper?

Toronto had lost 3 straight games when Bernier got the call against Washington. The Leafs seemed to play with confidence and poise in this game, and Jonathan kicked away 32 of 35 pucks. It wasn't enough to stop the losing streak, but you kinda got the feeling the Leafs were back on track. The feeling was that if Bernier could play a little better, and the Leafs could play like they did against Washington, the losing streak was over.

Sure enough, Bernier stopped 36 of 38 shots against facing the Devils. The Leafs won the game in, you guessed it, a shootout. Then came Boston.

You know, the team that came back against the Leafs in game 7 from last year's Stanley Cup playoff? The Bruins looked like they were going to do that again. Again in Boston. But Bernier made sure it didn't happen and Toronto skated off with a 4-3 win and a 2-game winning streak. A strong performance by a suddenly confident Reimer made it a 3 game winning streak against Buffalo.

Your turn, Scrivens!

See you after game 82!

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