Sergei Bobrovsky reaches embarrassing Maple Leafs milestone not seen since Vesa Toskala

Sergei Bobrovsky joined some not-so-illustrious company, being the first Maple Leafs goalie to give up 3+ goals through six games since Vesa Toskala 17 years ago.

Signing a three-year, $21M contract this past offseason, Bobrovsky was brought in for the Maple Leafs not only due to his Hall of Fame resume, but also the parallels that Senior Advisor Mats Sundin had during his playing time - having his own veteran in Ed Belfour.

But Bobrovsky hasn't had an 'Eddie the Eagle' type performance as of yet, and is still looking for his first win at home. Sitting 1-3-2, the goalie hasn't really sparked a lot of hope early on this season though he has given Toronto a chance to stay in some games they otherwise may not have.

Sergei Bobrovsky joins not-so-illustrious company in Toronto's record books

You can point to his lack of defense as a main concern (and it definitely is) but Bobrovsky was brought in to stop goals regardless of who was in front of him and so far he hasn't. In fact, it's been about as bad as can be - at least in Toronto lore.

Bobrovsky became the first goaltender since Vesa Toskala to give up 3+ goals through his first six games, when Toskala did so in 2009.

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Now, we aren't saying that Bobrovsky is the level of talent that Toskala was - he's leaps and bounds better in all regards. But Toskala wasn't exactly a slouch and was actually coming into Toronto with very respectable numbers as the backup to Evgeni Nabokov.

His first season went well but quickly fell apart and his 3.66 GAA and .874 SV% in 2009 led him to be dealt away from Toronto alongside Jason Blake to Anaheim for another maligned Maple Leafs goalie - Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

Why Bobrovsky isn't Toskala but has been playing like he is

And who can forget the 200-foot goal? It cemented Toskala as an early meme, and to this day many fans are still blown away with how that knuckle-puck even went it:

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Bob is not going to let those in (we hope) but they both didn't exactly have the best defense in front of them.

Toronto back then did have Tomas Kaberle, Bryan McCabe and Pavel Kubina, but also were running with Anton Stralman and Carlo Colaiacovo. It's drawing parallels to the current roster where the team has Darren Raddysh, Morgan Rielly, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson - but also too relying on secondary pieces to stop opponents with Troy Stecher and Nick Blankenburg.

You can't blame Bobrovsky for being the sole issue, as his defensive group in front of him hasn't been great. It's led him to be part of Maple Leafs history for all the wrong reasons, but at least he hasn't given up a 200-foot goal.

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