Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Dennis Hildeby recorded his first career home win at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday night, but the game nearly became immortal in the closing seconds.
With the Buffalo Sabres pulling their goalie to close the gap and make things interesting, the puck was dumped into the Leafs&#8217; zone behind the net. Hildeby saw an opportunity to score an empty-net goal and he went for it, only for the puck to be knocked out of the air by J.J. Peterka in the neutral zone. It is not clear if the puck would have hit the net had it not been thwarted away by Peterka but it had a good chance nonetheless.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
SO CLOSE TO A GOALIE GOAL! <a href="https://t.co/mBubSxcn9Y">pic.twitter.com/mBubSxcn9Y</a>
&mdash; TSN (@TSN_Sports) <a href="https://twitter.com/TSN_Sports/status/1868456969301835901?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 16, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Hildeby told reporters after the game that this was not his first attempt at an empty-net goal and was proud of how close he came to finally pulling it off.
&#8220;Yeah, I tried. I’ve had a couple of tries, maybe one day,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I saw their guy backing up, there was no one in the middle, so I felt kind of safe. Just went for it.”
You certainly can&#8217;t fault him for giving it a try, especially given that making it would have made him the 16th goalie in NHL history to pull off the feat. It also would have made him the first goalie in the history of the franchise to score a goal while also getting revenge on the Sabres for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-PfPOkQjng&amp;pp=ygURbWlrYSBub3JvbmVuIGdvYWw%3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mika Noronen scoring a goal in a game against the Leafs back in 2004</a>. 
Suffice it to say that the attempt got the Leafs bench buzzing after the game. Even though the attempt came up short the players admired Hildeby&#8217;s willingness to give it a try.
&#8220;&#8216;Hopefully he scores it,'&#8221; forward Nick Robertson said when asked what went through his head when he saw the attempt. &#8220;I like the confidence out of him there.&#8221;
Given how the game started for Hildeby, allowing two goals within the first five minutes, no one could have envisioned that he would end the night by giving it a go at an empty netter. That was made possible by how he was able to stay composed and make the saves he needed to in the latter stages of the game while getting the support of his teammates to thwart the attempts.
Forward Max Domi praised the towering netminder for his poise in overcoming the rough start while adding he wanted to see the puck go in for him.
&#8220;He looked great. Would have loved to see that goal go in at the end, that would have been cool,&#8221; he said. &#8220;He&#8217;s awesome. Massive human being and a great dude. So, happy for him.&#8221;
Forward John Tavares told <a href="https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/video/you-just-get-ready-for-the-next-opportunity-tavares-on-staying-p~3047622" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TSN&#8217;s Claire Hanna</a> that he was pumped to see Hildeby go for it because he knows how rare of feet it is due to the scarcity of the chances a goalie has to try one.
&#8220;Told him I loved it,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I mean why not. Who knows how many opportunities you will ever get at that? Got the two-goal lead, and he had some time to get underneath it. I loved it, it was a great try.&#8221;
As for how the bench boss felt about the attempt, Craig Berube approved of his netminder giving it a go because he deemed it an educated play based on what the Sabres threw in front of him at the time.
&#8220;I thought it was a good play,&#8221; he said. &#8220;The guys were taking the outlets on him coming down the wall. Smart play. He fired it down the ice. I am okay with that.&#8221;
While it is unclear when Hildeby will get his next start given that Joseph Woll will be leaned on more in the wake of Anthony Stolarz <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/maple-leafs-place-goaltender-anthony-stolarz-on-injured-reserve" target="_blank" rel="noopener">going on injured reserve</a>, there is no denying that there will be plenty of fans hoping he can get another shot at an empty-netter whenever that comes because he came so close to burying one. At the very least, the fact he felt confident enough to try it will make him feel good about his game moving forward.

Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Dennis Hildeby recorded his first career home win at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday night, but the game nearly became immortal in the closing seconds.

With the Buffalo Sabres pulling their goalie to close the gap and make things interesting, the puck was dumped into the Leafs' zone behind the net. Hildeby saw an opportunity to score an empty-net goal and he went for it, only for the puck to be knocked out of the air by J.J. Peterka in the neutral zone. It is not clear if the puck would have hit the net had it not been thwarted away by Peterka but it had a good chance nonetheless.

https://twitter.com/TSN_Sports/status/1868456969301835901

Hildeby told reporters after the game that this was not his first attempt at an empty-net goal and was proud of how close he came to finally pulling it off.

"Yeah, I tried. I’ve had a couple of tries, maybe one day," he said. "I saw their guy backing up, there was no one in the middle, so I felt kind of safe. Just went for it.”

You certainly can't fault him for giving it a try, especially given that making it would have made him the 16th goalie in NHL history to pull off the feat. It also would have made him the first goalie in the history of the franchise to score a goal while also getting revenge on the Sabres for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-PfPOkQjng&amp;pp=ygURbWlrYSBub3JvbmVuIGdvYWw%3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mika Noronen scoring a goal in a game against the Leafs back in 2004</a>. 

Suffice it to say that the attempt got the Leafs bench buzzing after the game. Even though the attempt came up short the players admired Hildeby's willingness to give it a try.

"'Hopefully he scores it,'" forward Nick Robertson said when asked what went through his head when he saw the attempt. "I like the confidence out of him there."

Given how the game started for Hildeby, allowing two goals within the first five minutes, no one could have envisioned that he would end the night by giving it a go at an empty netter. That was made possible by how he was able to stay composed and make the saves he needed to in the latter stages of the game while getting the support of his teammates to thwart the attempts.

Forward Max Domi praised the towering netminder for his poise in overcoming the rough start while adding he wanted to see the puck go in for him.

"He looked great. Would have loved to see that goal go in at the end, that would have been cool," he said. "He's awesome. Massive human being and a great dude. So, happy for him."

Forward John Tavares told <a href="https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/video/you-just-get-ready-for-the-next-opportunity-tavares-on-staying-p~3047622" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TSN's Claire Hanna</a> that he was pumped to see Hildeby go for it because he knows how rare of feet it is due to the scarcity of the chances a goalie has to try one.

"Told him I loved it," he said. "I mean why not. Who knows how many opportunities you will ever get at that? Got the two-goal lead, and he had some time to get underneath it. I loved it, it was a great try."

As for how the bench boss felt about the attempt, Craig Berube approved of his netminder giving it a go because he deemed it an educated play based on what the Sabres threw in front of him at the time.

"I thought it was a good play," he said. "The guys were taking the outlets on him coming down the wall. Smart play. He fired it down the ice. I am okay with that."

While it is unclear when Hildeby will get his next start given that Joseph Woll will be leaned on more in the wake of Anthony Stolarz <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/maple-leafs-place-goaltender-anthony-stolarz-on-injured-reserve" target="_blank" rel="noopener">going on injured reserve</a>, there is no denying that there will be plenty of fans hoping he can get another shot at an empty-netter whenever that comes because he came so close to burying one. At the very least, the fact he felt confident enough to try it will make him feel good about his game moving forward.

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