Ben Scrivens succeeding in LA

                                     (via @theroyalhalf)

When Jonathan Quick went down with an injury last week, eyebrows raised across the hockey world. He was their undisputed number one goalie and their playoff hero in their 2012 Stanley Cup run. With Quick hurt, the Kings turned to Ben Scrivens.

Scrivens played just 1:20 of the game in which Quick was injured and picked up the shootout loss. Since then, he’s been virtually unbeatable. He stopped 23 of 25 against the New York Islanders, stopped 26 shots in a shutout against the Devils, and stopped all 37 shots he faced in another shutout on Sunday night, this time against the New York Rangers.

As a result, Ben Scrivens has a .955% save percentage in the eight games he has played so far this season. That gives him the single best save percentage in the entire NHL among goalies with at least five games played. In fact, only Petr Mrazek has a better save percentage than Scrivens, but he has only played in one game: A 14-save snorefest shutout win over the Edmonton Oilers.

This isn’t some post calling the Jonathan Bernier trade into question, by the way. Playing the "woulda shoulda coulda" game is pointless and exhausting. We’re a month and a half into the season, for crying out loud. The fact of the matter is Jonathan Bernier has been fantastic for the Leafs so far this season. You could argue that the Leafs have the best goaltending tandem in the NHL. James Reimer is 5-2-0 with a .942 sv%. Jonathan Bernier is 7-5-1 with a .938 sv%. The Leafs are near the top of the eastern conference. Injuries and mayors aside, life is good in Toronto right now. All this is, is a "Hey, check this guy out" post.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say Ben Scrivens is one of the more forgotten players who departed from the Maple Leafs this past offseason. Mikhail Grabovski is still a heavily debated player (with 18 point in 21 games), many fans bought into Matt Frattin’s potential and style, and Clarke MacArthur gave Leafs fans plenty of reasons to cheer in his time with the blue and white. With the early success of Bernier in Toronto and Scrivens’ lack of play behind Quick before the injury, he wasn’t really mentioned. Now? Back-to-back shutouts and three shutouts in eight games gets you noticed.

Thoughts?