Ilya Samsonov is scheduled to play the entire game when the Toronto Maple Leafs travel to Belleville to take on the Ottawa Senators on Friday.
With just four pre-season games remaining for the Toronto Maple Leafs, head coach Sheldon Keefe said he is going to give goaltenders Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov full starts the rest of the way, beginning with Samsonov against the Ottawa Senators in Belleville on Friday.
Murray and Samsonov have each played 40 minutes of shutout hockey and both made 16 saves in their respective performances. The most recent game, a Leafs 3-0 win against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday, was Murray’s first game as a Maple Leaf.
Both goaltenders are newcomers to the Maple Leafs by taking different paths to Toronto.
Samsonov signed one-year, $1.8 million deal with Toronto on July 13, just a couple of days after the Russian goalkeeper was notified he wasn’t going to be tendered a qualifying offer by his previous team, the Washington Capitals.
The Maple Leafs acquired Murray in a trade on July 11 along with draft picks in exchange for future considerations from the Ottawa Senators. Toronto had Ottawa retain 25 per cent of the two years remaining on Murray’s contract, which carries a total $6.25 million average annual value.
With Murray coming off a couple of years of underperformance and a long history of injuries that includes neck and concussion issues and Samsonov finishing with a save percentage below .900 last season, the Maple Leafs have made no promises to either goaltender as far who will take the net come opening night.
Lineup
The Maple Leafs will keep many of their star players at home on Friday.
The trio of Zach Aston-Reese, David Kampf, and Nicolas Aube-Kubel will be the line of focus for the Maple Leafs in this contest. They’ve spent the last few sessions of camp skating together and barring anything unforeseen, it’s looking like this will be Toronto’s third-line shutdown group going into the season opener against the Montreal Canadiens on Oct. 12.
“[Kampf and Aston-Reese are] two guys that grind and are physical that can skate really well,” Aube-Kubel said of his linemates. “I’ll take any opportunity I can have, if I start [the season] with them, then that’s cool. I’ll grind and play that type of game. That’s something I can do.”
The Sens will take on a different approach by dressing many of their star players, including Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle and defenseman Thomas Chabot just to name a few.
Where to watch
The broadcast of the game will begin at 7 p.m. ET and be available to stream and watch nationwide on Sportsnet One.
Timekeepers note
Because the game is not taking place inside an NHL building, it’s very likely you won’t see some of the stats you are used to, like time on ice, for example. This is common and has happened to the Maple Leafs whenever they play games in non-NHL buildings. This was the case in 2017 when Toronto played their pre-season games at Ricoh Coliseum. Just a note in case you go to NHL.com and can’t find consistent stats, the website is not broken.