The Toronto Maple Leafs used defenseman Rasmus Sandin as the fourth option in the shootout and head coach Sheldon Keefe explained his reasoning.
The Toronto Maple Leafs took part in their first shootout of the season against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. Their first three shooters were the usual suspects. William Nylander got a turn. So did Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner.
But when the game required a fourth shooter, it was Rasmus Sandin, a defenseman, who got the nod.
He nearly scored, too.
The Swedish defenseman deked out Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington but wasn't able to release the puck quickly enough. That allowed Binnington just enough time to get his leg on it to make a save.
"We don't practice them a lot, but every time we do Sandy’s the guy who finishes with the greatest level of success," Keefe said following the team's 6-5 shootout loss to the Blues. "We're so used to having Jason Spezza out there to be the guy to get us going, so having the first one here was a little off there."
Sandin has demonstrated his moves when the team worked on it in practice, particularly last season.
The 22-year-old Sandin was the winner of an impromptu shootout contest at practice in November of 2022. Then Maple Leafs goaltending coach Steve Briere brought out a trophy with a gun on top of it. It turned out it was meant for the winner of the contest, which ended up being Sandin.
"If I knew what the trophy was for, I probably would've," Sandin said back in June. "No one really told us. I just saw it standing on the ice there for no reason. It was pretty funny."
Toronto had just four shootouts last season and won three of them. But Tuesday marked the first time Sandin got the tap on the shoulder to take an NHL shootout.
"It's fun to know that you have that belief that you are going to go out there and score," Sandin said of the opportunity on Tuesday. "I was happy to get the opportunity and if there is a next time, hopefully, we'll have a different result."