Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 5.21

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Well that was quite a debut for Jean-Sebastien Giguere, was it not? Yet to allow a goal as a Maple Leaf through two games, Giguere’s two consecutive shutouts have made him the first goaltender in Leaf history to start his Leaf career in such a fashion.

Dion Phaneuf’s presence has added a very noticeable degree of energy and a rather ornery quality that has spread throughout the Maple Leafs defense corps. Most noticeably though has been the improved play of Luke Schenn which surely has had a lot to do with the arrival of Phaneuf.

All of a sudden Leaf fans have somewhere new to direct their attention and with a marquee name like Phaneuf on the roster, he will certainly attract a lot of that attention. Over the past month or so, Schenn has begun to emerge from a season long sophomore slump but there is no debating he has played his best hockey, especially the past two home games, in the last week since Phaneuf and Giguere arrived in town.

Now able to fly under the radar, Schenn is exuding the confidence he very much lacked earlier in the season when his shortcomings were constantly placed under the microscope. In the last week, the young defenseman has been infected with that disagreeable quality Phaneuf has brought and has started reminding people why he was “The Human Eraser” during his junior career.

Keeping his game simple has allowed Schenn to avoid costly turnovers and move the puck with efficiency like he seemed to do effortlessly during his rookie campaign. A pair of well timed jumps up into the rush against the Senators on Saturday night gave him his first career multi goal game.

Perhaps it’s the reassurance of playing in front of the rock solid Giguere or perhaps it’s the energizing presence of Phaneuf but so far, Schenn’s improvement is almost like the Leafs acquired another player last weekend. Too often earlier in the season, Schenn was noticeable for all the wrong reasons. Lately though, he’s looked like a fifth overall pick. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.