Leafs reveal starting goalie for tonight's grudge match with Tampa Bay Lightning
The Leafs are in Tampa to take on the Lightning tonight in what should be an emotional game for both clubs. The Leafs will look to get back on the win train after dropping 2 straight to Chicago and Florida, while the Bolts will look to avenge their round 1 loss to the Buds in last season's playoffs.
Ilya Samsonov got the start for the Leafs in Florida on Thursday, which led many to believe we'd see Joseph Woll in Tampa tonight. However, that does not appear to be the case if the Leafs' morning skate is any indicator. Per Sportsnet's Luke Fox, Samsonov was the first goalie off the ice, which typically indicates that a netminder is in line to get the nod.
Samsonov is 2-1-0 this season, but his winning record doesn't tell the whole story, as he has given up a combined 11 goals in his 3 starts. Not ideal. Samsonov's 3.67 GAA and .861 SV% would both be career lows by a significant margin. He was much better in Florida on Thursday, but still has some things to tighten up on.
The Leafs have 3 more road games after tonight, with Washington, Dallas and Nashville being the destinations, so Woll will almost certainly get 1 or 2 of those starts, as Keefe had indicated pretty early on that his plan was to split starts between Samsonov and Woll this year much the way he did with Samsonov and Murray last year.
| POLL | ||
OCTOBRE 21 | 184 ANSWERS Leafs reveal starting goalie for tonight's grudge match with Tampa Bay Lightning How concerned about Samsonov are you through his first 3 starts of the season? | ||
| Very concerned | 78 | 42.4 % |
| Moderately concerned | 66 | 35.9 % |
| Not concerned at all. Sammy will be fine | 40 | 21.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
