Ilya Samsonov explains his most recent injury scare and declared himself ready to go, but Joseph Woll gets the nod with the chance to redeem himself.
Ilya Samsonov put in a full day of work at Ford Performance Centre on Wednesday and spoke to the media for the first time since he was forced to leave Saturday's 6-3 win against the Edmonton Oilers.
"Everything is good. Nice day today," Samsonov said. "I think I'm ready to play. I'm available right now."
The goaltender explained that he hit a post and sustained a calf contusion, which explains why the Maple Leafs weren't concerned that they would be without their goaltender for very long.
And while Samsonov declared himself healthy, the Maple Leafs will instead turn to Joseph Woll when they host the Washington Capitals on Thursday.
"It's a good chance to get him back in there. Both in what happened last night and also just with Samsonov on a bit of a pause here it gives Joe a bit of a chance to get his workload up," Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said.
Woll had an excellent game again the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday where he made a season-high 41 saves in a 2-1 loss. But on Tuesday he struggled against the New Jersey Devils, allowing four goals on 24 shots.
In both games, Woll gave up the opening shot on goal that he faced.
With 11 games to go the Maple Leafs will try to build up both goaltenders before eventually deciding on a Game 1 playoffs starter. Figuring out who should be No. 1 has been tricky as both goaltenders have shown stretches where they could take the position, only to struggle or suffer an energy en route to losing the momentum.
"We really need to prepare for playoffs," Samsonov said. "Last 10 games and really important time for right now.
"We need to play really hard every game because it's a playoff. It's changed really quick."
Woll has a 10-9-1 record this season with a .908 save percentage. He missed nearly three months with a high-ankle sprain earlier this season.
Samsonov has a 19-6-7 record this season with an .889 save percentage. Although he has struggled this season at times, he has figured out his game in recent months and is 5-1-1 with a .915 save percentage in March.
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