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Hall Of Fame Night in Toronto is always a special occasion, and on Friday the pre-game ceremonies will honor Roberto Luongo, Riikka Sallinen, Herb Carnegie (Builder), Al Morganti (Elmer Ferguson Award), Bill Clement (Foster Hewitt Award), and Swedish stars Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, and Daniel Alfredsson, but the highlight of the night will be the appearance of Toronto Maple Leafs great Borje Salming.
The Hockey Hall of Famer revealed in August that he had been diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), and in recent weeks the 71-year-old has lost the power of speech.
The Leafs hope to continue their success at Scotiabank Arena against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Toronto is 5-1-1 on home ice with their only regulation defeat to the Arizona Coyotes, which has compensated for their under .500 record on the road.
The Leafs practiced with the same lineup on Thursday and are not expected to make any changes for the first of back-to-back home games, with Erik Kallgren making his third straight start, but the identity of Saturday’s starting goalie against Vancouver is up in the air.
Matt Murray practiced with the club for the first time since his adductor injury last month, but is considered day-to-day. Keefe would not commit to the veteran’s return following the morning skate on Friday.
"He's progressed well, he's done well. No final decisions have been made in terms of how we'll handle (Saturday)." Keefe said. "He's still out on the ice there right now, but we'll get through today and make the determination from there."
If the medical staff does not give Murray clearance, the Leafs will either go with Kallgren on back-to-back nights (which would not be impossible since there will be no travel involved) or giving rookie Keith Petruzzelli his first NHL start against the Canucks.
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— Patric Sandin (@psan1969) November 11, 2022
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