Goaltender Jonas Gustavsson Perfect in Long-Awaited Leafs Debut

by David Hutchison

This report was about Gstavsson’s first game as a Leaf. Check out the follow up of his second (again perfect) performance the next night.

Jonas “the Monster” Gustavvson finally made his debut last night for the Toronto Maple Leafs, stopping all seven shots in one period of play as coach Ron Wilson eased the rookie into action after minor heart surgery.

“He (Gustavsson) used his size and his rebound control is incredible,” Leaf coach Ron Wilson praised. “And Vesa came in and was maybe a little shaky at first, but he made some big saves late in the third and in overtime.”

Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun described the performance:

Brett Lebda tested him the first two times. Gustavsson made his best save of the night on the second attempt when a wraparound took a funny bounce to Lebda, with Gustavsson sliding back into butterfly position for a nice pad save.
“The puck shouldn’t go there, but that was good for me to get right in the game,” said Gustavsson, who only had a few practices after minor heart surgery sidelined him most of camp.
The big Swede also fended off two Detroit power plays.

This will be encouraging for the Leafs and their young stopper who GM Brian Burke logged many hours and many air miles to secure for Toronto. Gustavsson was widely considered the best goaltender not in the NHL last year and Toronto hopes he’ll have a quick impact as have other recent European goaltenders who have come over in their 20s such as Henrik Lundqvist and Niklas Backstrom.

Read more about the Monster’s first game action in the Toronto Star and TSN.