He has not been in “Hildebeast mode” much this season, definitely for the first period of Sunday night’s game against Buffalo.
But Dennis Hildeby still came out with a win, thanks in large part to an old-fashioned Maple Leafs effort, scoring their way out of trouble against a team winless in its past 10.
After giving up three goals in nine minutes, a relieved Hildeby watched the Leafs put three more behind Devon Levi and add an empty netter in a 5-3, 41-shot assault.
At the start of the year, Hildeby found he wasn’t the only 6-foot-7 goalie who could help Toronto as Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll formed a solid tandem, which other than a brief October call-up didn’t require Hildeby’s services from the Marlies.
After a 21-win season last year on the farm, a .913 save percentage and late-season practice time with the Leafs, he found himself sharing the net with veteran Matt Murray and both outshone by Russian rookie Artur Akhtyamov. Yet Hildeby was the only rested stopper available this weekend for the second of the back-to-back after Stolarz was injured Thursday against Anaheim and Woll lost Saturday in Detroit.
Jack Quinn scored two for Buffalo and Alex Tuch one with Hildeby proving vulnerable on high shots.
“Our team had a lot of goals, which I appreciate,” said Hildeby. “There were a few things I could’ve done differently. It was tough with the reads. I felt better the longer the game went.
“I got a few pucks on me in the third (stopping all seven shots, notably denying Quinn his hat trick). That was nice to make me feel important.”
Woll is slated to start in Dallas on Wednesday after which Stolarz can come off injured reserve if he’s ready.
HILDEBY SHOOTS FOR HISTORY
No Toronto goalie has ever scored, but Hildeby had about the best conditions a masked Maple Leaf could ask for. With Toronto up two goals and with plenty of time and space, he launched one down the middle that a Sabre intercepted with his glove just outside Toronto’s blue-line.
It was 20 years ago, on Valentine’s Day 2004, that goalie Mika Noronen of the Sabres was credited with a goal in Toronto as the last player to touch the puck when the Leafs put it in their own empty cage during a 6-on-5.
“I’ve had a couple of tries, that was my best effort,” Hildeby said. “I saw their guy backing up, there was no one in the middle, so I felt kind of safe. just went for it.”
Coach Craig Berube liked the risk, feeling the Leafs’ coverage was good.
“A scoring play, fire it down the ice,” he said approvingly.
ROBERTSON SCORES IN RETURN
While the attention was on Max Domi coming in from the cold with his first goal of the year, Domi returned the favour to set up Nick Robertson for his third of the season and first this month after Robertson’s four consecutive scratches.
“They both played excellent, way more engaged with their physical play and hounding puck battles,” Berube said. “That line (with Bobby McMann) was excellent tonight and we need them to be.”
RECOMMENDED VIDEO
CHIEF JOINS 300 CLUB
The victory marked Berube’s 300th NHL coaching win, joining 55 others with Scotty Bowman’s 1,244 at the top.
“That’s a lot of coaches (in between), I have a long way to go,” Berube joked. “I don’t look at stuff like that, but I’m happy about it.”
Craig MacTavish (301) is next on the list. In games coached, Berube passed Chicago Blackhawks great Tommy Ivan with 574 on Sunday.
SLUMPING SABRES ‘NOT GOOD ENOUGH’
While the football Bills and their mafia have the Niagara Region excited, the Sabres still haven’t won in December and are 0-7-3. The Montreal Canadiens could pass and leave them last in the Atlantic Division this week.
“It’s a pretty crappy feeling … we just have to work,” said Tuch in a silent Buffalo dressing room. “We’ve scored the first goal in a lot of these games, come from behind and tied it up … it’s not good enough.”
They did break a 1-for-28 power-play slide just 65 seconds into the game, a Quinn goal with Chris Tanev in the box.
FORCE FOR GOOD
Sunday was Canadian Armed Forces Night at Scotiabank Arena with some fans giving up their tickets for servicemen and women. Two female officers stationed overseas who’ve missed many family events while being away participated in the ceremonial faceoff with their children and all forces’ guests came out for a post-game photo op with the Leafs and club personnel.
The Leafs and their forerunners, the St. Patricks and Arenas, have a long history with the military going back to the First World War and many others left the team in the prime of their careers to serve between 1939 and 1945.
LOOSE LEAFS
Akhtyamov was on a 8-0-1 run with a .913 save percentage before losing his first game in regulation Sunday, 3-2 at home to the Bakersfield Condors, making 25 stops. Nick Abruzzese and Robert Mastrosimone scored for Toronto, with a record of 13-4-2-3 in a close battle for first place in the American Hockey League’s North Division … The only two penalties the Leafs took were Tanev’s in the first and last minutes of the game … Toronto outhit the Sabres 37-13.
X: @sunhornby