Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender James Reimer
After all the euphoria surrounding the start to the regular season the Toronto Maple Leafs were brought back down to earth with a rather onerous thud with a 3-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.
And here is a friendly wager that the media will outnumber the players Friday morning at practice, all scrambling to try and discover the condition of starting Toronto goalie James Reimer.
Such is life under the microscope for the Leafs, who are still off to an excellent 6-2-0 start to the National Hockey League regular season.
Reimer took a bump in the head and was forced to leave the contest just 32 seconds into the game.
Toronto coach Randy Carlyle said afterwards that Reimer was suffering from a headache and expects him to be at practice writes Jeff Blair in the Globe and Mail.
Given Reimer's history with upper body afflictions rotisserie league fanatics are already making inquiries about possible replacements.
The situation hearkens back to the 2011-12 season when Reimer was injured on Oct. 22 in a game against the Montreal Canadiens.
Reimer suffered what the Leafs described as a whiplash/neck injury that many suspected was in fact a concussion.
In any event, Reimer was sidelined for 19 games.
It was Reimer's habit of being unable to control the rebound that led to this latest mishap, causing him to have to dive forward to cover up the loose puck when he got clipped in the head by the knee of teammate Jose Leivo.
Good thing the Leafs went out over the summer and traded for Jonathan Bernier to provide the Leafs with a solid one-two punch between the pipes.
And then Bernier gives up this embarrassing game winner that was credited to Carolina's Ron Hainsey on what appeared to be an icing midway through the third period.
Brett Willows must have been wondering if he might get the call after the dubious goal.
A third-year goaltender for the University of Toronto Blues, Willows was eating dinner on Bloor Street when he got the call that the Leafs needed an emergency backup after Reimer was injured writes Andy Watson on Yahoo.com.
Willows raced over the Air Canada Centre and quickly got dressed but the Leafs didn't even allow him to sit on the bench for his troubles, keeping him stashed in the locker room for the remainder of the game.
In what has already become a disturbing trend in the early-going of the NHL season, another player was carted off the ice on a stretcher after a hit from behind.
This time it was Detroit Red Wings defenceman Niklas Kronwall who sustained a concussion and cuts to his ear after being run into the boards by Colorado's Cody McLeod.
McLeod was assessed a major boarding penalty and a game misconduct and will likely face additional punishment once the league has had an opportunity to review the play.
"These hits are things we've got to get out of the game," Wings coach Mike Babcock is quoted as saying in the Detroit Free Press.
The Wings would find some solace, skating to a 4-2 win in Denver to hand the Avalanche their first loss in seven games this season.
In Florida it would appear that you have to do what you can to sell the game, even if it means shilling for Major League Baseball.
Forget that the opponents were the Boston Bruins, the Stanley Cup finalist from a year ago, and that the game would afford goaltender Tim Thomas his first opportunity to play against his former team.
What the Panthers chose to highlight on their website a couple hours before the game, as noted by Sam Gardner writing on ForxSports.com, is that fans attending the game would be able to watch the Red Sox-Tigers playoff game on TVs throughout the arena.
Just over 15,000 fans turned out for the hockey-baseball doubleheader.
Red Sox one win away from advancing to World Series
In a development that is bound to rile devoted Toronto Blue Jays fans, former manager John Farrell and the Boston Red Sox are on the verge of advancing into the World Series.
After a 4-3 victory over Detroit the Red Sox have secured a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven American League Championship Series with the playoff now shifting to the friendly confines of Fenway.
Scott Lauber writes in the Boston Herald that for the Red Sox they should feel fortunate to be in the position they are in.
The Globe's Robert MacLeod curates the best of sports on the web most weekday mornings.