Matt Murray will start in goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning but the plan moving forward with both goaltenders will be a closely guarded secret.
For the first time since Oct. 15, the Toronto Maple Leafs have their top two goaltenders healthy and ready for action.
Matt Murray has played well since returning to the lineup from an adductor injury last month and posted a 5-0-1 with a .938 save percentage in November.
Ilya Samsonov returned to the lineup on Wednesday after missing over three weeks with a knee injury and showed no signs of rust by making 23 saves on 24 shots in a 3-1 win against the San Jose Sharks.
With both goaltenders healthy and performing well, it leaves a decision for Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe to figure out how to best deploy both goaltenders.
Murray will get the start against the Tampa Bay Lighting on Saturday.
“You can look at it on schedule and what not, I think Matt has done a terrific job and has played a fair number of starts in a row. He’s really gone on a roll,” Keefe said. “Obviously, he didn’t play the other night so it’s important for us to get him back in.”
As far as what the Leafs do going forward with his goalies, Keefe has a plan. But he’s going to leave the parties involved in the dark.
“We won’t communicate that to anyone, including them until we need to,” Keefe explained. “I think it’s important to take each day as they come and go from there.
Analysis
It’s understandable that Keefe doesn’t want to make any promises. Although both goalies have performed well, injuries and performances could cause change in what the Leafs decide to do.
The Leafs acquired Murray from the Ottawa Senators in July and he remains a reclamation project for the team. But given his recent performance, he is living up to everything the Leafs had hoped he could become in the right setting.
Samsonov has also performed well. With Murray unavailable, the Russian goaltender who signed a one-year, $1.8 million best-on-himself contract performed well at a time the Leaf were struggling. He has a 7-2-0 record with a .924 save percentage. Had Samsonov not got hurt against the Bruins on Nov. 5 and continued to dominate, it might be a tougher decision.
But the clue behind the plan lies in putting Murray right back in goal. As long as he continues to perform as well as he can and stays healthy, Murray could ended up with a larger share of the remaining starts.
How many? It’s too soon to tell. But it’s an excellent problem for the Leafs to have.
Toronto hasn’t ever been in a situation where they have two tandem goaltenders performing with a save percentage above .920.
During the 2017-18 season, Frederik Andersen played 66 regular season games and finished with a .918 save percentage with Curtis McElhinney posting a .934 save percentage in 18 games. But there was never a thought in giving McElhinney more starts beyond the typical back-to-back situation.
It’s different now. Both goalies are performing well and both were reclamation projects going in. It makes sense to just let things play out without making any promises at this point.
“We would want to have both guys involved, that’s the reality of the NHL,” Keefe said. “Coming into the season, we believed in their abilities and thought that we could get a lot of use out of both, that mindset hasn’t changed.