Sheldon Keefe makes surprising decision in goal for Monday's matchup with the Coyotes
The 2-1-0 Toronto Maple Leafs are set to face-off against the 0-2-0 Arizona Coyotes tonight with their 3rd goaltender of the season between the pipes. Matt Murray took the season opener against the Montreal Canadiens and Ilya Samsonov filled in the following 2 games against his former team, the Washington Capitals and then Provincial rivals in the Ottawa Senators.
Matt Murray fell to an adductor injury, was placed on the LTIR as he is scheduled to miss at least 4 weeks, and in his stead, they called up goaltender Erik Kallgren on an emergency basis. Samsonov played very well on Saturday night against the Senators, backstopping his team to victory with 26 saves on 28 shots. He was also really good the game before against the Capitals, stopping 24 shots en route to 3-2 victory.
The Leafs announced they would be starting Kallgren tonight against the Arizona Coyotes, which is a surprise but also not entirely. You would think with no more games until Thursday, there shouldn't be any reason not to ride the hot-hand of Samsonov but at the same time, the Coyotes don't present the toughest of tasks for an inexperienced Kallgren and it's still very early in the season, where you can afford yourself to play your backup in a softer matchup.
If there was a game you had to choose for Kallgren, it would be the Coyotes over the Dallas Stars who visit on Thursday or the Winnipeg Jets on the road on Sunday. Keefe already confirmed that he had every intention of using both Kallgren and Samsonov, so this move really shouldn't be as surprising as it seems. Those are 2 games where you want your presumed number one goalie to play.
Kallgren went 8-4-1 in 14 games with the Maple Leafs last year with a .888 SV% and 3.31 G.A.A. Let's see how he handles himself in his first game of the season against the Coyotes who dropped their first 2 games by a combined score of 12-5.
| POLL | ||
OCTOBRE 17 | 343 ANSWERS Sheldon Keefe makes surprising decision in goal for Monday's matchup with the Coyotes How many starts will the Leafs' third string goaltender Erik Kallgren end up with this season? | ||
| 1-5 | 47 | 13.7 % |
| 6-10 | 141 | 41.1 % |
| 11-15 | 81 | 23.6 % |
| More than 15 | 74 | 21.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
