With Joseph Woll still reportedly nursing a lower-body injury, the Toronto Maple Leafs turned to rookie goaltender Dennis Hildeby in the second-half of their back-to-back to open their 2024-25 season after dropping their opener 1-0 to the Montreal Canadiens.
The Maple Leafs seems to be looking to get Woll to 100 percent before putting him back into the lineup, so that left a hole for Hildeby to make his first career NHL start on Thursday against the New Jersey Devils on the road.
The Maple Leafs jumped out to a big 3-0 lead just 14:46 into the game with goals from Max Pacioretty, Bobby McMann and Seven Lorentz, while Hildeby stood tall in the team’s crease making 22 saves on 24 shots to earn his first career NHL win.
Hildeby is coming off a season where he played in 41 games with a 21-11-7 record in the regular season with the AHL Toronto Marlies. That came with a 2.41 goals against average (GAA) and .913 save percentage (SV%).
While Hildeby wasn’t expected to start the season with the Maple Leafs, his first sign of game play landed him a big win to even the Maple Leafs record up at 1-1-0 through two games and he could become a major asset to this team moving forward.
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