Why the Maple Leafs are Going Back to Ilya Samsonov in Goal Against the Lightning for Game 2
Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe endorsed his goaltender after a difficult Game 1 that saw him get pulled to start the third period in favor of Joseph Woll.
Following the Toronto Maple Leafs' 7-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, Head Coach Sheldon Keefe left the door open about a possible goaltending change for Game 2.
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But following the team's 20-minute practice on Wednesday, Keefe declared Ilya Samsonov his starter for Game 2.
"Sammy is going in net for sure," Keefe pronounced.
The Russian goaltender had a difficult series debut on Tuesday, allowing six goals on 29 shots on goal. Some of the goals weren't his fault, but he did allow a pair of deflating late-period goals, including Brayden Point's second goal of the game with 0.1 seconds remaining in the second frame.
Toronto's goaltending has been a storyline throughout the regular season after the club overhauled the position last summer. Matt Murray, who was acquired from the Ottawa Senators has been unavailable to the club due to a concussion sustained earlier in the month. Joseph Woll, who came on in relief of Samsonov to start the third period of Tuesday's game, allowed on goal on five shots faced.
Samsonov led the way this season with a .919 save percentage in the regular season and the club believes in his ability to bounce back from difficult starts as a reason to go back with him for Game 2.
"He's been great when we needed to respond," Mitch Marner said. "We didn't help him out a lot giving up a lot of free chances around our net. It's hard to come up with massive saves every game."
Samsonov deviated from his usual routine the day after starting in goal for the Maple Leafs. He was back in net taking shots in 3-on-2 and 2-on-1 defensive situations. He has told The Hockey News in the regular season that he prefers how Toronto replicates game situations for their goaltenders, rather than just doing solo work on a separate pad with goaltending coaches.
That's not to say the latter doesn't occur either. Samsonov was on the ice for the club's optional skate working with goalie coach Curtis Sanford.
He wanted to get on the ice today (Wednesday) and we were going to sort of cater the practice to what he wanted as we'd normally do coming off as you'd normally do coming off a start," Keefe explained. "But he wanted to be in there and to me he was sending a message to the team about how focused he is and I thought he had an excellent practice today as short as it was. To me he looks ready to get back at it."
Samsonov was not made available despite requests by reports to speak to him following Tuesday's 7-3 loss.
In nine career playoff experiences, Samsonov has one victory.
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