Liljegren was tripped along the corner boards by Bruins forward Brad Marchand.
BOSTON — The Toronto Maple Leafs may need to bring up some more reinforcements.
Timothy Liljegren sustained a lower-body injury in the first period of the Maple Leafs’ 3-2 shootout loss to the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Thursday and will be without the services of the Swedish defenseman for the next little while.
“It looks like he’s going to miss significant time,” Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game. “We won’t know for sure until we get him home and get a picture (scan). It’s not short-term the way it looks.”
With 41 seconds remaining in the first period, Bruins forward Brad Marchand tripped Liljegren along the corner boards. The Maple Leafs defenseman was in obvious pain as he headed straight for the locker room.
Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe appeared to be unhappy with the play as he argued with officials about the non-call on the ice.
“I got nothing. He just didn’t see the stick go between his legs, a can-opener, you can go feet first into the boards in the most dangerous part of the ice,” Keefe said of his conversation with officials.
Liljegren was seen after the game at TD Garden in a full suit walking to the team bus with a bit of a limp. But was able to do so without any assistance of any visible aid to his injury.
Liljegren was thought to have suffered an upper-body injury on Saturday when he was hit along the end boards by Predators forward Yakov Trenin. The Leafs dodged that bullet when Liljegren was back at practice the following Monday.
The 24-year-old defenseman has one assist in 10 games this season. He averaged 19:23 of ice time heading into Thursday’s game.
The Maple Leafs will likely call up another defenseman with Liljegren on the shelf in for at least the short term. Jake McCabe — who has been out with a groin injury — is not expected to return this weekend, however, he was scheduled to skate on his own back at Toronto’s practice facility.
“Just like last year we had a lot of major injuries in our back end it’s next guy up,” Mitch Marner said of his team’s defense. “We have a lot of trust in our D regardless if it’s guys who have been here the whole year or guys that need to get called up. It’s definitely a big loss.”
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