Maple Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov returned to the net last Saturday, posting a 4-0 shutout over the Nashville Predators, which seemed to indicate that he was back. Then, on Monday night against the New York Islanders, there were one or two goals he probably should have stopped but didn't, as the Leafs lost 4-3 in overtime. He was given Tuesday night off, but got the start against the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets last night and no one would have expected him to have the game he did.
Samsonov gave up the first 5 goals of the game to the Blue Jackets before the Leafs mounted a ridiculous third period comeback to snag a point. He stopped 29 of 35 shots in the end, but it showed that he is still struggling with consistency this season. Following the game, Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe was asked why he didn't make a goaltending change and his answer is surprising.
"In the moment in the second period, we decided to get through the second and talk about it, which we did. Curtis Sanford felt strongly that Sammy should stay in, fight, and battle with the team. That was his advice, and it is why we made the decision we made.
I like the fact that Sammy was a part of that comeback. I like the fact that he made some saves for us early in that third period to kind of make sure their team didn't get any life back. It works out."
Clearly Keefe wanted to give Samsonov the third off and put Martin Jones in, but was convinced to let Sammy stay in and battle to try to boost his confidence. We don't know the extent of the conversation that Keefe and Sanford had, but it must've been fairly convincing. Hopefully the third period comeback instilled some sort of confidence in Samsonov because without it, it could be a struggle for the Leafs to stay in the playoff hunt without Joseph Woll.
