Mrazek or Reimer? That’s still the question as Hurricanes prepare for next playoff round
James Reimer was recently discussing goaltending play and the inevitable ebbs and flows that come with the stressful position.
“Confidence is a tough one,” he said. “When you have it, the puck is massive and the plays slow down.”
So it was Tuesday for Reimer and the Carolina Hurricanes as they finished off the New York Rangers in Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena. Reimer saw 38 shots and confidently stopped 37 in the Canes’ 4-1 victory that made it a three-game sweep of the postseason qualifying series.
There was a time in Game 3 when the play was anything but slow. During a frenzied few moments late in the second period, with seemingly everyone on the ice crammed around the Canes net, Reimer stopped a shot, got a diving stop from defenseman Sami Vatanen, then shoved across the crease to get his stick on another Rangers shot.
“Crazy,” Reimer said of the sequence after the game.
Crazy good. Reimer, given the start by Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour, was at his best in the game. The Rangers soon were done. The Canes were moving on.
Sounds simple enough but nothing has ever been quite that simple for Reimer, the pride of Morweena, Manitoba, which has a listed population of 150 but is smaller according to Reimer’s mother.
“Fifty people,” Marlene Reimer said this season.
From such beginnings, Reimer became the starting goalie for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He also was the starting goalie in Game 7 of their 2013 playoff series in Boston, when the Leafs blew a three-goal lead in the third period and lost in overtime to the Bruins.
Talk about ebbs and flows. Try chewing on that for seven years.
“You never want to have a game like we did against Boston that time,” Canes defenseman Jake Gardiner, once Reimer’s Leafs teammate, said Friday. “It was a historic game, one that no one’s ever going to forget. For him to come back, bounce back and make the saves the way he did basically stole us the game. It was impressive and great for him.”
Reimer’s last game in Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena was pretty painful, too. Reimer was the starting goalie for the Hurricanes against the Leafs on Feb. 22. Reimer was injured, forced out of the game. Then Petr Mrazek was injured.
In came David Ayres, the emergency backup goalie, to save the day, making saves, making himself a national hockey hero, helping the Canes to a victory. He left the ice to cheers, from Leafs fans.
So here Reimer was Tuesday, back on the ice and playing in the arena again. No fans, not during the pandemic. Competing for a Stanley Cup — in August.
“It’s not what you dreamed of,” Reimer said. “Fans are what bring real excitement to the games. But I think as an athlete and as a team we’re pulling for each other. You want to do the best for yourself, your team, for your family back home. So many people made sacrifices for you.”
The Reimers did. Marlene Reimer recalls the lengthy drives to and from practices, to the junior hockey games in Manitoba. James, she said, did “dashboard homework on the way home in the dark.” It’s a long road to the NHL, she said.
Marlene Reimer, in an interview this season, said she sometimes covers her eyes when she gets anxious during games and it probably was that way Tuesday, late in the second period. The score was tied 1-1. The Rangers, desperate for a win, were throwing everything at Reimer. The crease became a crowded place.
“Guys were pawing all over the place,” Reimer said.
But Reimer and the Canes held strong, again. Mrazek won the first two games of the series and Reimer the third as the Rangers scored just four goals on 88 shots. That’s getting it done.
“Our goalies were awesome,” Canes center Sebastian Aho said. “We’re happy to have two hot goalies.”
Mrazek or Reimer in the next round?
And what now? Mrazek or Reimer?
“I don’t really have a plan for the next round,” Brind’Amour said on his media call Friday. “I don’t know when we’re starting or who we’re playing. Do I anticipate both guys playing? Yeah, I do.”
Brind’Amour also anticipates having injured defenseman Dougie Hamilton back. Hamilton has returned to practice, which Brind’Amour said Friday was “a good sign for us.”
As for the opponent, the Canes will play either the Boston Bruins or the Washington Capitals, with the first game scheduled for Tuesday. As Brind’Amour said, “We know a couple of opponents very, very well.”
Mrazek faced both the Caps and Bruins in last year’s playoffs, mixing good with the bad — the Canes beat the Caps in seven games and lost to the Bruins in four straight in the Eastern Conference finals.
Reimer, 32, was with the Florida Panthers at the time, awaiting his fate. Once considered the goalie the Panthers envisioned succeeding veteran Roberto Luongo, he was aware the Panthers were looking to sign free agent goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and that he would be dealt to free up salary cap space.
Reimer was traded to Carolina, a part of the deal that sent goalie Scott Darling and a draft pick to Florida, where Darling had his contract bought out.
“His reputation as being a solid character and great human being is something we already knew before we got him,” Brind’Amour said.
Reimer was solid in the regular season before the NHL pause. He was sharp in training camp, sharp Tuesday. Now he is headed to the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
“We all love hockey but playoff hockey is the best,” Reimer said. “It’s the most fun. Nothing can touch it.”
This story was originally published August 7, 2020 at 3:27 PM.
