Ilya Samsonov discusses the latest injury to Matt Murray
After the Leafs won a first period defensive zone face-off and cycled behind their own net to jettison the puck out of the zone last night, Detroit Red Wings sophomore Lucas Raymond slipped and collided with Leafs goalie Matt Murray. The goaltender fell hard and was forced out of the game due to concussion protocol.
Ilya Samsonov, who played in Saturday night's game, was forced to finish things out and earned the loss after allowing 2 goals on 16 shots. After the game, Samsonov was asked about Murray's third injury of the season:
"I'm sad. This is hard. Hard for him. Hard for (his) family, yeah, first one, and hard for team. It's hard for us. It's third one. We don't know long-term or whatever. Third injury is really hard and I'm so sad about it."
Murray suffered a long-term injury after the season opening loss to the Montreal Canadiens. He tore his adductor and missed over a month of playing time. He came back and stormed the halls with his stellar play, going 7-0-2 in 9 games upon his return with a .933 SV%. He then suffered his second injury of the season, this time to his ankle, that kept him out of the lineup for over a month.
Samsonov has done a valiant job manning the goal for Toronto this season, posting a .916 SV% and a 25-9-4 record before yesterday's relief appearance. Joseph Woll has made a few appearances, as has Erik Kallgren in the absence of Matt Murray.
Asked about if he was playing through pain last night, as he looked to be labouring at points in the game, Samsonov had this to say:
"Not much. I play yesterday. It's not easy to play back to back games. Just maybe muscles tired little bit. More stiffness today. I skate today & do some workout before game too, but you never know what time you go to the net."
Samsonov should be taking on the bulk of the remaining games and will most likely be tabbed as the starting goaltender for this upcoming playoff series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Keefe does not have any updates as of right now and with the Leafs off on Monday, there should be some clarification by Tuesday.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 3 | 413 ANSWERS Ilya Samsonov discusses the latest injury to Matt Murray Will the Leafs look to trade the oft-injured Matt Murray this summer? | ||
| Yes | 380 | 92 % |
| No | 33 | 8 % |
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