In hockey lore, dreams and fantasies, there is a piece of every fans who wants to be called out of the stands when we are old and gray (r bald, to play for an NHL team.
Fantasy.
Lucas Wallmark had a goal for the Hurricanes – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
On Saturday night, that fantasy came true for David Ayres, who was called to duty as an emergency back up goalie for the Carolina Hurricanes in Toronto.
The Canes James Reimer and Petr Mrazek were both put out of action in collisions, leaving Carolina with goalie for nearly the final back half of the game with the Maple Leafs.
Ayres, 42, yielded goals on the first two shots he faced in the second period, then, as in most Hollywood movies and rec league fantasies, ge stopped the next eight in a 6-3 win for Carolina.
“I thought I’d be nervous if it ever happened. I was nervous for the whole second period,” said Ayres, who allowed a goal on each of the first two shots he faced. “As you could tell, I couldn’t stop a puck if I had to in the second. I told the boys in the intermission, ‘I’ll be ready to go.’ All I thought was keep breathing nice and slowly and relax, the shots are going to come. I face these guys all the time, the Leafs, at practice, to be honest.”
The Canes were busy scoring in four in the middle frame but buckled down on defense in the final frame.
“I said, ‘Stop the puck, buddy,'” Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour said when asked what he said to Ayres during the second intermission. “We told him we were going to go after them in the third period, we were not going to sit back, we’re going to try to protect you but you’re going to have to make a save or two to get us the win.
“I just love the way our guys accepted him, cheered him on. It was special to be a part of.”
John Tavares and Pierre Engvall scored on Ayres.
“He kicked [butt] in there. It was unreal,” Reimer said of Ayres. “It’s stupid. It’s so hard for an NHL goalie to come back after an injury. Your first game feels like you’ve never played before. For him, for what he did tonight, he’s a legend.”
Alexander Kerfoot staked the Leafs to a 1-0 lead in the game.
“Certainly no, I haven’t seen anything like this,” Tavares said. “We obviously didn’t handle the circumstances of the game very well. It might have been our poorest night of execution. We seemed like the team that played [Friday] night and travelled. We were sloppy and our execution was extremely low.”
Warren Foegele struck twice for Carolina
Martin Necas, Nino Niederreiter, Teuvo Teravainen, and Lucas Wallmark potted single markers for the Canes.
“I talked to the team and said, ‘If we don’t change how we’re playing, they don’t even need a goalie,'” Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “We were getting no shots, no chances, nothing was happening. They didn’t need a goalie the way the game was going.”
[WATCH:Â All Hurricanes vs. Maple Leafs highlights]
Frederik Andersen made 41 saves
“I just think we didn’t have enough offensive zone time, a lot of one-and-dones and turnovers, especially our line, especially myself,” Mitchell Marner said. “It’s just not good enough. I expect myself to be a lot better in these games. Knowing this team was going to come out like that, that’s [garbage] on my part. It’s something that I’ve got to be better and we’ve got to be better with. Everything seemed to go wrong. Now it’s time to stop feeling sorry for ourselves. I’m taking a lot on myself for this [stuff]. I’ve got to be better.”
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