Erik Kallgren injured in Marlies season opener
The Toronto Marlies kicked off their 72-game regular season tonight on the road in Rochester, New York, against the Rochester Americans. With the depth of the Toronto Maple Leafs roster this season, the farm team in the Toronto Marlies are expected to be a very competitive team this year. The Marlies were searching to start the season on the right foot on Friday night.
Unfortunately, these high ambitions were quick to be halted. In game one of the season on Friday night, with the Americans leading the Marlies 2-1, Erik Kallgren took a nasty hit just under eight minutes into the second period. The hit came on a four-on-three opportunity for the Americans, which resulted in a point-blank one-timer by right-handed defenseman Ethan Prow. Prow jumped into the odd-man rush, where he found himself wide open in front, with Kallgren coming out of the net to face the shot.
After Prow failed to stop, the two collided, and he ploughed right through Kallgren. A scrum ensued quickly after the collision occurred as the Marlies came to the defense of their goaltender. After several minutes of laying on the ice, the Marlies' starting goaltender headed to the dressing room and did not return. Backup goaltender Dylan Ferguson took over for the Marlies at the 12:26 mark of the second period.
It was a scary moment for the players, viewers, and organization as Kallgren was slow to get up. Looking back on Kallgren's injury history, Leaf fans know he missed some time last season after suffering a high shot to the neck/head area. The injury Kallgren suffered tonight is unclear, but one could hope it won't be major or another head injury.
Kallgren won eight games in his fourteen appearances for the Maple Leafs last season, serving as a backup and fill-in for former Leafs goaltenders Jack Campbell and Petr Mrazek. As the Leafs acquired goalies Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov in the off-season, Kallgren was assigned to the Marlies out of camp.
This definitely wasn't the start to the season the Marlies were hoping for, but hopefully, the injury sustained is not severe and Kallgren will have a speedy recovery.
Credit: hockeydb.com
