Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews had a close one in Saturday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings when he lost one of his skate blades.

Early in the second period, he blocked a pass from Vladimir Tarasenko off his skate that was strong enough to knock the blade from its moorings. Matthews took an awkward fall that made him slide along the ice to collide with the boards before getting some assistance from Jake McCabe to get off the ice.

He told reporters after the game that he had never experienced anything like that in his career so far, but he will take it to heart should it occur again.

“It’s never happened to me, but obviously you see it every once in a while,” he said. “It’s definitely interesting. I was a little bit mixed up. Luckily Caber was there to get me back to the bench. Definitely not something that I don’t think’s happened to me before, but it is what it is. Just kind of one of those freak plays.”

In fairness to Matthews, incidents like this one with a lost stick blade rarely occur so he is forgiven for not fully knowing what to do in a situation like that. Thankfully he did not collide hard into the boards and had the assistance of his teammates to get him back to the bench for repairs quickly.

How quickly did he realize that his blade was gone when Tarasenko’s pass went off his skate?

“I knew it was my blade the second he passed it off my skates,” Matthews said. “I felt it come out and then I went to plan. I fell and went right into the boards. So I knew the blade came out I just didn’t know what to do after that. Good learning experience.”

Luckily he avoided an injury on the play because he was able to get a power-play goal later in the period to get the Leafs on even-terms at the time. It wasn’t a stellar night for the captain overall, compounded by a freak accident with his skate blade, but the main thing is that the play will ultimately be nothing more than a funny footnote from the season.

Suffice it to say that Matthews will be double-checking to make sure his skate blades are properly secure before taking to the ice for Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres.

“It’s a weird play. I think it happened, I’m not sure if I’m right, but I thought it happened to (Lukas) Dostal last game where he lost his blade,” goalie Joseph Woll said. “It’s a weird play because when it happens to you, it’s confusing for a second or two. You don’t know what’s going on, but yeah, it was good we got him off.”