How Maple Leafs Defenseman Luke Schenn Found Out he Was Playing on Monday After Erik Gustafsson's Injury in Warmup
Originally scratched against the Florida Panthers, Luke Schenn was on a bus with the other extra players about 15 minutes before puck drop when head coach Sheldon Keefe called the player’s cell.
NEW YORK — Although Luke Schenn is in the midst of his second tenure with the Toronto Maple Leafs, the defenseman continues to go through some unique experiences.
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On Monday night, the 33-year-old was scheduled to be a healthy scratch in their game against the Florida Panthers when Erik Gustafsson left the warmups early.
After an assessment in the locker room determined that Gustafsson suffered an upper-body injury, Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe called Schenn, who was on the team's later-arriving bus approximately 15 minutes before game time when he saw Keefe’s name come up on his caller ID.
“I thought it was a pocket dial because this doesn’t make any sense,” Schenn recalled.
When he answered it, the coach asked where he was and told him that he was in the lineup.
“I got there just in time for the anthem,” Schenn said before his team’s 4-3 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday.
"It was the first time in Schenn’s 15-year NHL career that he had short notice for a game. He explained that he usually spends 45 minutes to an hour stretching out previous injuries and getting his body prepared for action. He ended up doing high-knee exercises on the bus, as his teammates got a kick out of what was going on.
“That was a new experience,’ Schenn said. “I just jumped out onto the ice and it was kind of like going into a beer-league game. Stretching the hips a little bit and away you go.”
Maple Leafs assistant coach Dean Chynoweth allowed Schenn to get some time to warm up by holding the defenseman out of the game until 8:16 of the first period. At that point, the Leafs had their first television timeout and Schenn used that time to get in a bit of a skate before taking part in his first shift.
Pressed into back-to-back games, the strange experience didn't have an effect on Schenn's game the following night against the Lightning. He scored his first goal since becoming a Leaf for the second time in his career and engaged in a fight with former teammate Pat Maroon.
With Gustafsson still day-to-day, Tuesday's game may be enough for the 'human eraser' to draw into Game 1 of their Stanley Cup Playoffs series with Tampa that gets underway next week.
On Feb. 28, the Maple Leafs acquired Luke Schenn from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a 2023 third-round draft pick. In 14 games with Toronto, he has one goal and 11 penalty minutes while averaging 13:01 of ice time.
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