TAMPA — If there was indeed fire behind the thick clouds of smoke billowing around the Toronto Maple Leafs’ crease on Tuesday, hockey fans came close to seeing the unprecedented in Tampa: an amateur goaltender patrolling the pipes in a National Hockey League game for opening puck drop.
With the Maple Leafs loathe to start No. 1 Ilya Samsonov twice in 48 hours and Matt Murray (head) on the sidelines, the team was at risk of signing a netminder to an amateur tryout for the third consecutive game night — and use him much longer than Jett Alexander’s 70 seconds of nervous glory on Saturday.
Two goaltenders warmed up at Amalie Arena Tuesday during the Leafs’ designated ice time, neither of whom was Nick Chenard, whose one-game amateur tryout to back up Samsonov during Monday’s win in Florida has expired.
Mathias Onuska of the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires and Samuel Richard, who put up respectable numbers in the QMJHL and for the University of New Brunswick, are the reported ATO candidates travelling with the Leafs.
Onuska, 20, went 17-11-4 this season, with a 4.44 goals-against average and .868 save percentage.
Maple Leafs management and coach Sheldon Keefe have been keeping details of their backup goaltending plan during this road trip quiet and used an unusual number of amateurs at practice Sunday.
A Tampa source said the club was still trying to figure things out Tuesday afternoon.
“Ideal circumstances passed us long ago, so here we are,” said Keefe on Monday.
Joseph Woll of the Toronto Marlies was added to the Maple Leafs’ active roster around 2:30 p.m., suggesting he’ll start after all.
The Maple Leafs certainly don’t wish to overtax their best goaltender in a meaningless road game against their Round 1 opponent. Murray is out with a head injury and did not travel with the team.
“Probably paramount to both teams is just get out of the game healthy,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper told reporters Tuesday morning.
Added Tampa captain Steven Stamkos: “This game doesn’t mean much. It’s just about our group getting into some better habits than there’s been in the past couple games to prepare for the playoffs.”
Keefe is scheduled to address reporters around 4:30 p.m. ET.