Maple Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle felt goaltender James Reimer was “just okay” in Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings, per TSN.ca. Nevertheless, he started Reimer again tonight and so far it’s been a rough outing.
Radko Gudas got the Tampa Bay Lightning on the board early with a shot off the draw that Reimer didn’t see through traffic and consequently didn’t react to until it was too late.
Reimer has since surrendered a hat trick to Steven Stamkos to give Tampa Bay a 4-2 lead in the second period.
Carlyle’s assessment of Reimer was made more controversial when Reimer’s agent suggested that it was a Toronto tradition to blame the goaltender for poor defensive play. The agent, Ray Petkau, later told TSN’s Bob McKenzie that he wasn’t aware of Carlyle’s comments at the time and didn’t intend for his tweet to be seen as a response to the bench boss.
“That said, obviously this has been a trying season for James but those are issues that we will deal with in the off season,” Petkau added.
Jonathan Bernier has taken the starting job from Reimer, but he is currently unavailable due to a groin injury.
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