Goaltender Martin Jones will make his second start in as many nights when the Toronto Maple Leafs visit Anaheim to face the Ducks on Wednesday, the team said.
Rookie pro Dennis Hildeby, who has not played in the NHL, became Jones’ backup over the weekend after the Leafs placed Ilya Samsonov on waivers and then sent him to the AHL’s Toronto Marlies following another disastrous start. Hildeby has performed well with the Marlies this season.
Jones notched a shutout on Tuesday as the Leafs beat the Los Angeles Kings 3-0.
“He feels good coming off last night,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “From our end, we’re trying to build some positive momentum here as a team. I thought we had a real good team effort last night. I want to keep Jonesy going.”
Keefe said the fact there was extremely limited travel for the back-to-back was one of the reasons it was possible to go back to Jones.
Keefe said he expects Hildeby will make his NHL debut at some point going forward in the next while.
Signed to a one-year, $875,000 deal in the summer to be the Leafs’ third goaltender, Jones is now in the No. 1 job because of Samsonov’s struggles and a high ankle sprain for Joseph Woll.
The North Vancouver-born Jones is 5-3 with a 2.37 goals-against average and .926 save percentage in nine games for the Leafs this year.
Jones previously played for the Kings, San Jose Sharks, Philadelphia Flyers and Seattle Kraken.
Watch the Leafs-Ducks game on Sportsnet or Sportsnet+ at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT.
After this game, the Leafs are off until Saturday when they conclude their stay in California with a game against the San Jose Sharks.