Leafs select starting goaltender for Thursday's game in Boston
There's no question that Matt Murray hasn't worked out quite the way he Leafs had hoped that he might. Yes, he has provided his team with some quality starts at times, but his constant battle with injury this season combined with his inability to keep the puck out of the net of late leaves a lot to be desired.
However, the Leafs are also in the enviable position to have some other very capable goalies in the system in Ilya Samsonov, Joseph Woll and, to a lesser extent, Erik Kallgren, who are all able to step in and provide quality starts when called upon.
For Samsonov, he was largely viewed as the obvious #2 prior to the start of the season, but has quickly risen to the perceived #1 with his excellent play at home this year. His 18-3-3 record, 2.02 GAA and .926 SV% at Scotiabank Arena is about as dominant as you'll find in any other market, even among the best goaltenders in the league. His 7-7-1 road record is not quite up to par with what he's been able to do at home, but he has still posted a .900 SV% on the road, and is coming off of a 3-0 shutout win in Ottawa, which helps.
As far as Joseph Woll goes, his 4-1-0 record, 2.02 GAA and .932 SV% across 5 appearances this season and his 7-2-0 record, 2.36 GAA and .922 SV% overall are pretty impressive for a 24-year-old who is at the very start of his career and has what would appear to be a bright future in the NHL. However, ahead of tomorrow's game in Boston, and on the heels of a big win against Columbus, Woll finds himself in a backup role to Samsonov.
The Leafs look to be opting for the more experienced of the two young goaltenders in Boston, with Samsonov playing in the home net at today's practice at Ford Performance Centre in Toronto. Part of this, I'm sure, is to try to get Samsonov going on the road, as Sheldon Keefe alluded to last week, prior to assigning him his start in Ottawa.
Samsonov is off to a roaring-hot start in April, having played 2 games, posting a 1-1 record, a 1.17 GAA and a .957 SV% with 1 shutout. Hopefully he can keep the ball rolling on Thursday in enemy territory against a very tough out in a Boston Bruins team who leads the NHL with 125 points, 16 points ahead of 2nd place Carolina.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 5 | 363 ANSWERS Leafs select starting goaltender for Thursday's game in Boston Is Ilya Samsonov the Leafs' #1 goaltender when the playoffs kick off in a couple of weeks? | ||
| Yes, absolutely | 349 | 96.1 % |
| No, it's going to be Murray | 2 | 0.6 % |
| It's still up in the air | 12 | 3.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
