Potvin Too Young to Feel the Pressure : Maple Leafs: Goalie made Fuhr expendable and he might take team to the Stanley Cup.

Toronto Maple Leaf goaltender Felix Potvin wears a thick mask to hide his face from flying pucks.

Underneath, he wears a mask of a different sort to hide his emotions from ferocious opponents and an inquiring public.

The face the world sees--whether on the ice through narrow eye slits or off the ice through fleeting glimpses into the locker room--is calm, cool and collected, no matter the game, no matter the outcome.

Could this be the real Felix Potvin? Could any 21-year-old replace a legend and get thrown into the most pressure-packed position in hockey, in the midst of the biggest series in hockey-mad Toronto in 26 years, and remain as seemingly unrattled as Potvin has?

If there’s another side to him, his fellow Leafs insist they haven’t seen it.

“He has unbelievable maturity,” Toronto General Manager Cliff Fletcher said of his young goalie. “He conceals his emotions well, whether he lets in eight goals or gets a shutout. It’s a hell of a trait for someone who plays his position.”

Potvin was at it again Sunday night at the Forum. He let in two goals, but was tough when he had to be, denying the Kings on 23 shots as Toronto won Game 4 of the Campbell Conference finals, 4-2.

When it was over, however, Potvin conceded that he is not really the ice man he seems to be.

“There’s pressure, for sure,” he said, “a lot of pressure. I just don’t show it.”

Or talk about it much.

The pressure began with the opening day of training camp and hasn’t let up.

After all, Potvin began the season firmly entrenched behind Grant Fuhr, a winner of five Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers, and Rick Wamsley, a veteran from the Calgary Flames.

Potvin, veteran of a grand total of four games in the NHL, figured to spend a year watching and learning. And perhaps playing with the St. John’s Maple Leafs in the American Hockey League.

But a funny thing happened on the way to St. John’s.

Fuhr got hurt. So did Wamsley.

So Potvin got his shot in the net for Toronto.

And got win after win after win.

He wound up the regular season 25-17-8 with a league-leading 2.5 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage, second in the NHL behind the .911 of the St. Louis Blues’ Curtis Joseph.

Potvin also wound up as the Maple Leafs’ starting goalie, his sparkling play sending Fuhr to the Buffalo Sabres and Wamsley into retirement.

Don’t think there weren’t more than a few eyebrows raised when the Maple Leafs shipped Fuhr to Buffalo in February and cast their lot with Potvin.

It was an opportunity to trade off a veteran to pick up some much-needed offense in the form of Dave Andreychuk. The Sabres also threw in goalie Daren Puppa.

“It was a calculated risk,” Fletcher acknowledged. “But what made the decision easier was that we knew we could only protect one goalie (in the upcoming expansion draft). And there was the age differential to consider (Fuhr is 30). But we were concerned about not having a security blanket for him (Potvin).”

Not to worry.

The Leafs started the playoffs slowly under Potvin, losing the first two games of their opening series against the Detroit Red Wings, 6-3 and 6-2.

But since then, Potvin has matched his regular-season play, giving up two goals or fewer in 10 of Toronto’s 18 playoff games.

“He’s big and he uses his size to his advantage,” said King assistant coach Cap Raeder, who works with his own team’s goalies. “He’s been tremendous. He’s got good composure and seems to handle pressure well.”

Wamsley, who has joined the Toronto coaching staff and works with Potvin, uses similar adjectives.

“He’s very collected,” Wamsley said. “Very calm.”

And very good at hiding his face, both on and off the ice.