David Ayres was sitting in the stands with his wife at Scotiabank Arena when Hurricanes goalie James Reimer went down with an injury.
The emergency netminder for Saturday鈥檚 game against the Maple Leafs, Ayers left his seat and donned half his gear on the off chance something also might happen to Carolina backup Petr Mrazek.
Midway through the second period, Ayres was by himself in the bowels of the building when his phone started to buzz 鈥� Mrazek had been hurt in a scary collision with Toronto forward Kyle Clifford and was down on the ice.
Next thing the 42-year-old Zamboni driver by day knew, he was walking down the tunnel and into the spotlight.
And not long after, he had an improbable first NHL win.
Ayres allowed goals on the first two shots he faced before settling down and stopping the next eight directed his way in a suffocating defensive performance from his new teammates as Carolina picked up a stunning 6-3 victory over Toronto.
鈥淚 had a couple of text messages that told me to get in there,鈥� Ayres said in front a throng of reporters. 鈥滻 hadn鈥檛 seen the footage (of Mrazek鈥檚 injury). I was in the media room by myself and a guy came in and said, 鈥楪et going. Get ready.鈥�
鈥淚t was wild, it was fun.鈥�
A moment he'll never forget pic.twitter.com/6tr03wNZ5N
鈥� Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) February 23, 2020
Ayres, who had a kidney transplant 15 years ago and wasn鈥檛 sure if he would ever play hockey again, has been a practice goalie with the Leafs and the club鈥檚 American Hockey League affiliate, the Toronto Marlies, for the last eight years.
The native of nearby Whitby, Ont., faces shots from professional players on an almost-daily basis during the season, but never thought he鈥檇 be called into service in an NHL game.
鈥淭hese guys were awesome,鈥� said Ayres, the oldest goalie in league history to win his regular-season debut and the first emergency backup to ever record a victory. 鈥漈hey said to me, 鈥楬ave fun with it, don鈥檛 worry about how many goals go in, this is your moment, have fun with it.鈥欌��
He did more than that, and was greeted with raucous cheers from the Hurricanes in their locker room after finishing a post-game TV interview.
鈥淚 had no idea I was going to get a shower before I got in the shower,鈥� Ayres, the game鈥檚 first star, said with a grin. 鈥滻 got one.鈥�
Not long after the final buzzer, the Hurricanes were hawking t-shirts on Twitter sporting the stand-in goalie鈥檚 No. 90.
鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty special,鈥� Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind鈥橝mour said. 鈥淚 told the guys after the game, 鈥楾hank him because that just gave (us) an incredible memory.鈥欌��
Warren Foegele scored twice, while Martin Necas, with a goal and an assist, Lucas Wallmark, Nino Niederreiter and Teuvo Teravainen provided the rest of the offence for Carolina (35-22-4).
鈥淗e probably dreams of playing in the National Hockey League,鈥� Foegele said of Ayres. 鈥漌hat a moment for him. Something he鈥檒l never forget, and something we won鈥檛 either.鈥�
Alexander Kerfoot, Pierre Engvall and John Tavares replied for Toronto (32-23-8), which beat the Hurricanes 8-6 at home in another wild affair at Scotiabank Arena on Dec. 23. Kasperi Kapanen and Tyson Barrie picked up two assists each for the Leafs, while Frederik Andersen made 41 saves on a disastrous night for the home side.
Toronto was playing poorly before Mrazek went down with the score 3-1 for the visitors, and things didn鈥檛 get much better even though Tavares and Engvall scored on consecutive attempts to make it 4-3 through 40 minutes.
鈥淭he reality is that the game really just stayed the same,鈥� said head coach Sheldon Keefe, whose players mustered just seven shots in the third. 鈥漌hen the goalie switch happened, I talked to the team and said, 鈥業f we don鈥檛 change how we鈥檙e playing, they don鈥檛 even need a goalie. There鈥檙e no chances, no shots, there鈥檚 nothing happening.鈥�
鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 need a goaltender the way the game was going.鈥�
Reimer started for the Hurricanes against his former team, but left with a lower-body injury in the first after being bowled over in his crease. He was replaced by Mrazek, who made 31 saves in Friday鈥檚 5-2 home loss to the New York Rangers. But Carolina鈥檚 second option went down after that thunderous encounter with Clifford as both players raced for the puck along the sideboards with 8:41 left in the second.
That forced Ayres, who鈥檚 been the emergency goalie in Toronto for about half the games this season and is available to either team, into action for the remainder of a matchup between two clubs battling for playoff positioning in the Eastern Conference.
鈥淵ou kind of think, 鈥極h well how鈥檚 this gonna end up?鈥欌�� Brind鈥橝mour said. 鈥漈hat鈥檚 incredible. That鈥檚 why you do this.鈥�
After the bizarre second that saw Carolina score four times, give up two goals, lose Mrazek, and have Ayres pressed into action, the Hurricanes made it 5-3 just 53 seconds into the third after jumping on a turnover and beating Andersen in tight.
Necas then made it 6-3 at 3:44 when he picked up a loose puck to finish off a chaotic sequence as boos rained down.
The jeers continued on a Leafs power play later in the period and got louder as the period wore on, with some fans chanting 鈥淟et鈥檚 Go Raptors!鈥� as the final minutes ticked down on an embarrassing performance from the home side.
鈥淲e obviously didn鈥檛 handle the circumstances of the game very well,鈥� Tavares said. 鈥滿ight have been our poorest night of execution.
鈥淲e seemed like the team that played last night and travelled.鈥�
Carolina trailed 1-0 after the first, but tied it at 5:46 of the second when Wallmark scored off a scramble. Niederreiter then blasted a one-timer on a power play at 9:43 before Foegele made it 3-1 at 10:49.
Mrazek was out of the game 30 seconds later.
Teravainen made it 4-1 with Clifford in the box for charging at 13:17, but Tavares scored on the first shot against Ayres through the five-hole 19 seconds after that.
Engvall buried a loose puck on Toronto鈥檚 next shot at 15:10 to make it 4-3.
The Leafs, who were coming of an encouraging 4-0 win over Pittsburgh on Thursday, then got a power play 鈥� fans screamed 鈥淪hoot!鈥� almost every time a Toronto player had the puck anywhere near the opposition net 鈥� but the Hurricanes didn鈥檛 allow anything through.
Ayres, who signed an amateur try-out before entering the game and his gets to keep his jersey, made his first save late in the second on Auston Matthews as Carolina led 4-3 through a wild 40 minutes and shut things down in the third.
鈥淭hese guys,鈥� Ayres said of what he鈥檒l remember most. 鈥滺ow great they were to me. The crowd in Toronto was unreal. Even though I was on the other team they were so receptive. Every time I made a save I could hear them cheering for me.
鈥淎飞别蝉辞尘别.鈥�
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Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press
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