Leafs G Hildeby to make NHL debut vs. Devils

The Maple Leafs will start Dennis Hildeby on Thursday night in New Jersey.

"He's played well in pre-season," said coach Craig Berube. "Really liked his game in Montreal in pre-season, so he'll be net tonight."

Hildeby stopped 26 of 27 shots to beat the Montreal Canadiens in his first career NHL pre-season start on Sept. 28. Now, the 23-year-old will make his NHL debut against the high-octane Devils in New Jersey's home opener. 

The Leafs are currently without Joseph Woll (lower-body tightness). Anthony Stolarz started on Wednesday in Montreal and the team is reluctant to play him on consecutive days.  

Berube said it was a "management decision" to call-up Hildeby, an AHL all-star last year, instead of veteran Matt Murray. 

Does the coach have a message for the kid ahead of this milestone moment? 

"You leave him alone, especially a goalie," Berube said. "He knows what he's doing. He's had some experience, not a lot, but he's going to do his job, play his game." 

The 6-foot-7 Swede made a positive impression on the team during training camp. 

"He was tremendous in pre-season," Stolarz raved following Wednesday's 1-0 loss in Montreal. "He has a nice calmness in his game and he moves extremely well for a guy of his size. And just his demeanour off the ice, you know, you can kind of see it that he has that, you know, calm, cool and collected."

Hildeby was called up by the Leafs a couple times last season, but didn't get into a game. 

"He had tremendous season last year," said former Leafs coach and current Devils bench boss Sheldon Keefe. "Tremendous, tremendous year last year in his first year in North America. And it seems like he's had a good pre-season. Not too concerned about who's in goal for them here tonight. They got a tremendous performance last night in goal. We got a lot to worry about to protect our own goalie and find a way to get to whoever's in there for them."