Clusterf*&@! Quick clusters of goals against are killing the Leafs

Originally posted at Pension Plan Puppets...

Jonas Siegel has a great entry up today at his Eat. Leafs. Sports. Blog where he lists 10 games this season where the Leafs gave up a cluster of goals in a very short time. For those of you scoring at home, the Leafs have been torched for multiple goals in three minutes or less in 30% of their games this season. Seems like an outrageously high number to me.

I wanted to take Jonas' nice research one step further and add a goaltending column to see if there was any sort of pattern...Here's Jonas' table with my goalie column added in:

Date	Opponent	Goalie	Result	Final Outcome
October 23rd	Philadelphia	Giguere	Two goals in 1:51	Loss (5-2)
November 2nd	Ottawa	Giguere	Two goals in 2:26	Loss (3-2)
November 3rd	Washington	Gustavsson	Two goals in 0:53	Shootout Loss (5-4)
November 9th	Tampa	Giguere	Two goals in 0:19	Loss (4-0)
November 16th	Nashville	Giguere	Three goals in 3:30	Win (5-4)
November 26th	Buffalo	Gustavsson	Two goals in 1:45	Loss (3-1)
December 2nd	Edmonton	Giguere	Two goals in 0:36	Loss (5-0)
December 8th	Pittsburgh	Gustavsson	Three goals in 3:08	Loss (5-2)
December 9th	Philadelphia	Giguere	Two goals in 1:19	Loss (4-1)
December 16th	Calgary	Giguere	Three goals in 0:57	Loss (5-2)

As you can see, J.S. Giguere has been in goal for 7 of the 10 games where the Leafs were torched.

To my mind, this pattern of clustered goals against, coupled with a longitudinal look at Giguere's save percentage (nicely assembled by SkinnyFish) is yet further evidence of Giguere's ongoing decline.

Looking at his Giguere's play of late, I hope Gustavsson gets the bulk of Leaf starts going forward and that Burke and the MLSE brain trust are working out what their goaltending options are for next year.