The Florida Panthers had enough goaltender weirdness for an entire season tonight, all in the span of about a period and a half.
First, Roberto Luongo was hit in the head/neck area by a Leo Komarov shot with two minutes left to play in the first period:
After staying down on the ice for a few minutes being examined by the trainer, Luongo finished out the period. But during the intermission he was pulled from the game, and one of the team's official Twitter accounts relayed that he wouldn't return, setting the stage for backup Al Montoya:
All went swimmingly for a period, but to begin the third Montoya sustained some sort of injury while giving up a goal. He went to the bench for several minutes—center Derek MacKenzie had to quickly leave the ice to dress as an emergency goaltender—before Montoya returned. Three minutes later he went back to the bench and was involved in a discussion with the trainer, coach, GM, and Luongo. Who was in street clothes:
Montoya went back into the game once again, and it became apparent that the new emergency goaltender was Panthers goaltending coach Robb Tallas, who hasn't played since 2001. The broadcast noted that the Panthers had to quickly sign Tallas to a one-day contract for him to be eligible to play:
Tallas suited up from the beginning of the game as the Panthers emergency goaltender exactly two years ago:
Finally, if things weren't weird enough already, Roberto Luongo—the guy in street clothes who supposedly wasn't going to return to the game—not only suited up again but went back in to finish out the game! If that is all too confusing, this infographic might help:
Florida lost to Toronto, 3-2.