Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen left Monday night’s 5-3 loss to the Florida Panthers after the first period due to what the team said Tuesday is a neck injury.
He did not return to Monday’s game and Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters Tuesday that Andersen will not travel with the team for Wednesday’s road game against the New York Rangers. Andersen is considered day-to-day.
Andersen was involved in multiple collisions Monday, including one with Panthers winger Frank Vatrano in the first period, but remained in the game.
Michael Hutchinson took over in the Toronto net for the start of the second period. Holding a 2-1 lead, he gave up three third-period goals before the Panthers added another on an empty net.
Andersen came into the game with a 2.87 goals-against average and .190 save percentage, having played in 41 of Toronto’s 53 games.
Keefe on Monday night said Andersen was checked for a concussion but that he didn’t know what collision caused the injury.
“He went through that whole process,” Andersen said of concussion testing. “My understanding is the results were positive on that. Given the nature of the injury, we wanted to take caution and give it time.”
Keefe said he was told Andersen was feeling better.
“Going to have to give him the night and see how he is in the morning,” Keefe said.
Keefe called Hutchinson’s entrance a “challenging scenario. He comes in cold and he’s not expecting to play. He goes in the second period and other than a couple of dump-ins, I don’t know if he had any shots. So that’s a tough ask of any goalie. He is part of the team and wants the opportunity and he’s in the net. You’d like to see positive results. I’d take a lot more from the games played for us previous to tonight.”