Tonight may be the most important game of Jack Campbell’s career.

The Leafs go into tonight’s game against the Flames having lost six of their last seven, with five of them seeing Frederik Andersen play in net (although he didn’t start against Ottawa). This has come while the Leafs have a 54.58% 5v5 CF% and a 56.39% 5v5 xGF%, which is fifth and fourth in the league during that span. The Leafs are clearly losing games because of Frederik Andersen, and unlike past seasons where this has been the case, it hasn’t been backed up by otherwise good to elite goaltending.

Campbell hasn’t gotten the crease much in his Leafs tenure, but when he has, he’s impressed. He has a .920 save percentage in 9 games with the Leafs, and a .951 in 3 games this season. It’s an incredibly small sample size, but his .918 career save percentage has at least earned him the benefit of the doubt, especially with Freddie playing as poorly as he has. If he plays well, there’s a good chance he at least gets to split the starts, although there’s reason to believe that that was the plan all along.

Of course, as I mentioned, we’re dealing with a very small sample size when talking about Campbell, so him being an improvement on Freddie is no guarantee. If not for play, then at least for durability, as Campbell hasn’t really seen a starter’s worth of games in his career, something that we at least know Fred can manage. But, if he doesn’t overtake Fred, then the least that can happen is that Campbell gives Fred some rest and he’s better prepared for a playoff run on a Leafs team poised to make a deep run.

Tonight may be one of the more important games of the Leafs season, or at least might be the biggest difference for their season.