Leafs announced starting goaltender for tonight's game against the Kings
Matt Murray has been on a tear since returning from injury, going 6-0-2 in his last 8 games, including a ridiculous 44-save shutout Tuesday night against Dallas. Many thought that Sheldon Keefe could continue to ride Murray's hot hand and have him start tonight against LA. However, that is not the case and the Leafs are sticking to their pre-determined gameplan of giving Murray a rest.
Tonight, Ilya Samsonov will get the start against LA. Samsonov last played on November 30th against San Jose, where he won his sixth straight on home ice and pushed his overall record to 7-2-0. Samsonov will look to set the Leafs' franchise record for consecutive home wins to start a season and eclipse Felix Potvin's 6 (who he is tied with currently).
Sheldon Keefe deserves credit for deciding to stick to the plan for his two goalies as it would have been very easy to put Murray back in tonight. However, given the injury history of Murray, it is the smart decision to afford him a few extra days of rest before the Calgary Flames come to town on Saturday. The Leafs appear to have a set schedule for Murray and Samsonov based more around "load management" than anything. It has been working well so far, so there is no point in changing it and if it gets both goalies to the playoffs healthy, it will go a long way to helping the Leafs get out of the first round.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 8 | 300 ANSWERS Leafs announced starting goaltender for tonight's game against the Kings Will Samsonov pull off the win tonight against LA? | ||
| Yes | 280 | 93.3 % |
| No | 20 | 6.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
