TORONTO – Matt Murray had never seen anything like it.
Sheldon Keefe may never try in the regular season.
And Alexander Kerfoot, who prides himself on sliding all over the lineup chart, found himself in a position he had never played before.
Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention.
So, with the Toronto Maple Leafs parading two more defensemen to the coach’s table before Wednesday’s exhibition game against the Montreal Canadiens was an old stretch, the coach looked at his shortened bench and got creative
Blueliners Jamie Benn (groin) and Carl Dahlstrom (shoulder) went down early in the 3-0 win, joining Jake Muzzin (back), Timohty Liljegren (hernia) and Rasmus Sandin (contract dispute) on the list rising of unavailable D men from Toronto. . (Benn and Dahlstrom require further examination, but are expected to “miss some time,” according to Keefe.)
“It’s a shame to see it happen as often as it has here. It seems like every day one or two guys go down,” Keefe says. “It’s not a good thing.”
Keefe took his two most trusted players, Kerfoot and Calle Järnkrok, out of the locker room during the first intermission and made a request.
The coach asked the two forwards to play defense, explaining that he didn’t want to tax the rest of the healthy bodies he had left there.
Embrace the offense when we have the puck. Trust your defensive instincts when we don’t.
Kerfoot was just trying to avoid sliding backwards.
“You can’t go two periods with four defenders. That’s a lot to ask,” Keefe says. Kerfoot and Järnkrok didn’t balk at the unusual assignment. “They’re two unselfish players … I thought they did an amazing job.”
The Leafs closed out a wild exhibition win with this D corps:
Giordano – Destinations
Rielly – Iron hook
Kerfoot – Brodie
And they looked good doing it.
“I mean, the way they stepped in and they were making reads and they were making quick passes,” Murray marveled. “They didn’t miss a beat. So pretty impressive of him.”
“They made it look a little too easy,” Morgan Rielly said. “It made us look a little bad.”
“As a coach, I had a little fun tonight, honestly,” Keefe smiled. “They might not admit it, but they probably had fun (too).”
Murray, Samsonov still to crack
Neither Matt Murray nor Ilya Samsonov are willing to feed your doubts.
Yes, it’s very early. Yes, the competition has been as light as the stakes. And yes, the sample size is smaller than Denis Malgin’s sports jacket.
Caveats aside, both ends of general manager Kyle Dubas’ double bet on the network has yet to give the haters any room for criticism.
Not only did Murray mimic Samsonov’s preseason stat line (16 perfect saves on 16 shots over 40 minutes played), but he had a secondary assist on Nick Robertson’s opener for good measure.
“They’ve answered every question that’s been raised so far,” says Keefe.
Like 1B Samsonov before him, 1A Murray didn’t get too much burn in his exhibition debut against a non-playoff team littered with AHLers, but he held his own, did his job, and got out of the Scotiabank Arena with a clean sheet and an injection. of trust
“I had a blast doing it,” Murray said. “Just a game that was really fun to be a part of.”
Keefe has been impressed by Murray’s structure in the crease, his ability to track the puck and his focused work ethic since arriving in Toronto well before camp opened last week.
“He has presence,” Keefe says. “That’s what I’ve noticed since the day he walked into our facility: He has a presence and a confidence about him.”
Auston Matthews echoes the sentiment: “He just has a calm presence. He’s not a super talkative guy, but he seems very poised and in control. Very calm in net.”
While Jack Campbell was the happy puppy you want to see jump the fence, Murray is the Great Dane who casually walks in.
Murray’s even-keeled demeanor may not lend itself to juicy dates, but his under-the-radar approach could translate well in this market. As long as you keep stopping the puck, of course.
To that end, the 28-year-old’s sleek 6-foot-5, 203-pound frame will help.
“Big guy. I didn’t know how big he was until I saw him for the first time,” says William Nylander. “I don’t think you get a chance to play with a two-time goaltender very often.”
Absolutely, Murray’s two Stanley Cup rings with Pittsburgh carry weight in terms of both reputation and expectations.
“Well, I learned a lot from those days, sure. But I think what they taught me was the importance of taking things one day at a time and controlling what you can control and doing it to the best of your ability and not worry about the rest. So that’s where my focus lies,” says Murray.
“The No. 1 thing you need as a goalkeeper is short-term memory. Win or lose, good game or bad game, whatever it is, start the next day fresh.”
Ken Dryden made it a point to come down after the game and chat with Matt Murray. It meant a lot to the new Leaf.
— luke fox (@lukefoxjukebox) September 29, 2022
Fox’s Fast 5
• Until the injuries piled up, Giordano was temporarily reunited with his former Flame, TJ Brodie. Has Brodie’s mood changed since those days in Alberta?
“Now he has a sports car that I never expected him to have,” notes Giordano. “The city got to him, I guess.”
• Why didn’t Auston Matthews throw out the first pitch in Tuesday’s Blue Jays game out of the bullpen as planned?
“The pet didn’t leave me,” he smiled.
(Mitch Marner, who took the mound in his first-pitch experience in 2017, explains that actual pitchers abuse ceremonial pitchers who step on their fresh dirt before the game.)
• David Kämpf rejoined the group after missing two days of camps for personal reasons: “Everything is fine, and I’m here. I’m happy to be back here.”
If Carolina’s Ondrej Kase were here too.
“He’s my very, very good friend,” says Kämpf. “I was kind of sad to see him go. But that’s hockey, right? That’s business. Hopefully one day we can play together again.”
• Keefe questioned whether the NHL should allow healthy scratches to escape from the press box and enter during the preseason game in case of injury.
“We have a lot of players in costume tonight who would love the opportunity to compete in a game like this,” he said. “And they don’t have that opportunity.”
• Wonderful to see the 1972 Team Canada roster in attendance and honored on the 50th anniversary of their Summit Series victory, an idea born from Leafs president Brendan Shanahan.
I would have liked to see the Leafs and Habs wear the national throwback jerseys for the entire game instead of just the national anthem.