Murray will make back-to-back starts in goal for the first time since mid-January.
Murray will make back-to-back starts in goal for the first time since mid-January.
Matt Murray will make his second consecutive start in goal when the Toronto Maple Leafs host the Buffalo Sabres at Scotiabank Arena on Monday.
Murray allowed three goals on his first nine shots against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday but made some key saves while his team was down 3-1 to help the Maple Leafs storm back to a 7-4 victory.
One of those included a glove save off of Edmonton Oilers' forward Warren Foegele.
Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said the way Murray was able to persevere helped him make the call in goal for Monday. But there is also a bit of load management at play with goaltender Ilya Samsonov.
"I do think it's important for Matt to get a little more consistency in the net rather than large gaps between starts, maybe influenced by the fact that he did get better in the game last night," Keefe said. "Sammy's not quite at 100 percent right now, either. So it just made more sense for me to give him a little bit more time."
Murray did not take part in the team's practice on Sunday but did spend time on the "goalie ice" with goaltending coach Curtis Sanford before the main practice began.
"When you're playing you definitely do things a bit differently," Murray explained.
The 28-year-old Murray improved to 12-6-2 following the win. Monday's start will mark his first consecutive appearances in goal since Jan. 14 and Jan 17. The latter of the two games saw the goaltender allow four goals on eight shots against the Florida Panthers before he was pulled for Samsonov, who helped the team come back to defeat Florida 5-4.
When the Maple Leafs took on the Seattle Kraken on Feb. 26 to kick off a five-game road trip, Samsonov was slow to get up after a bunch of saves toward the end of the game. He later dismissed it afterward, referring to it as "nothing crazy".
It's not clear if that sequence has any relation to why the goaltender may not be 100 percent.
Samsonov took part in the team's full practice on Sunday, exhausting himself with every drill, which has been typical of the goaltender leading up to days when he isn't expected to play.
The Maple Leafs begin a stretch on Monday where they will play their remaining 17 games of the regular season over a 32-day span. Given that density, it wouldn't be a surprise to see an even split as Samsonov has played the lion's share of games this season while Murray had been injured.
Samsonov is 23-8-2 with a .915 this season. He played in a career-high 44 games with the Washington Capitals while splitting the net with goaltender Vitek Vanecek.
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