The Toronto Maple Leafs didn't get good news on Joseph Woll 's lower-body injury.
The 27-year-old left Thursday's game against the Carolina Hurricanes after the second period following a save, which appeared to hurt his left side. TSN's broadcast caught Woll shaking out his left leg after making a save at some point in the second period.
Ahead of a game against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, the Maple Leafs placed Woll on injured reserve retroactive to Dec. 4 , and recalled prospect Artur Akhtyamov from the AHL's Toronto Marlies.
Woll remained in the net after appearing to be injured, and played until the end of the second period. Dennis Hildeby came in for relief in the third period, stopping all nine shots he faced for the win.
"He'll be (out) a week, hopefully," Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said on Saturday morning. "Right now, that's where he's at."
With Woll going on injured reserve, he's not eligible to return to Toronto's lineup until Dec. 12.
Berube added that the news isn't better than what he expected. "No, not better. I mean, better would be he's ready to go tonight. But that's not the case. We're not expecting it to be too long. I'm not going to comment too much on it."
It's expected that Hildeby, who has a .919 save percentage through seven games this season, will start for the Maple Leafs against the Canadiens. Akhtyamov, who's likely to back up, has seven wins and a .896 save percentage through 12 AHL games.
"I think (Hildeby's) done an outstanding job," Morgan Rielly said. "Even though he came in the other night, that's not an easy spot. And he's just been calm and collected. He's played really, really well."
Steven Lorentz shared the same sentiment as Rielly: "He's just calm, cool, and collected in net.
"I think his game's gotten better, and I don't know the technical X's and O's of being a goalie, but he definitely looks a lot more calm and comfortable, if he can be more calm because he was a calm guy to begin with. But he just looks more comfortable in net, takes up a lot of net, obviously a big boy.
"It's good to see a kid like that making the most of his opportunity when we got guys going down."
Woll has been strong for Toronto ever since returning from a personal leave of absence in early November. The goaltender had four wins and a .928 save percentage in eight games with the Maple Leafs.
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