BEWILDERMENT BETWEEN PIPES

Nick De Cicco

The Toronto Maple Leafs had some concerns and fans had a lot of uneasiness going into the 2022-2023 regular season with a brand new goalie tandem of Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov. These two haven’t had the greatest of performances with their former teams in Ottawa and Washington respectively, but they have definitely shown their worth in the roughly 30 games so far in the white and blue.

Matt Murray

When Murray arrived in Toronto, he was constantly backed by Leafs management and optimistic hockey fans. In his first couple games, he looked shaky with some instances of the puck squeaking through him. Just when the luck was turning into Matt’s favour, he suffered a groin injury during practice that would sideline him for roughly a month.

Many would think that an injury would deplete a goaltender’s performance, but Murray’s return would fuel him and the entire Leafs team to turn things around significantly after a disastrous first month of the regular season.

A changing defensively-oriented mindset would help Matt Murray achieve a 2.50 GAA, .926 save percentage through his first 10 starts and earn a historic shutout against the Dallas Stars. Matt Murray has definitely proved the doubters wrong and GM Kyle Dubas looks like a genius.

Ilya Samsonov

The 25-year old Russian goaltender was limited in his backup role with the Caps behind Vitek Vanecek. He had a decent amount of wins, but the save percentage was all over the place, ranging from .896 to .913. The inexperience of a typical young goaltender didn’t help his case during the final stretches of the regular season last year that led to Washington not giving Ilya a qualifying offer and exposing him to free agency.

The Leafs took a chance on Samsonov and hoped that he could grow in a new market with different surroundings. When the team announced his 1-year contract signing, many thought this jumpy youngster wouldn’t survive the demanding nature that Toronto goalies have faced in the past.

Samsonov looked nervous in the first couple games, similar to Murray’s early struggles, but quickly gained his bearings when the team needed him. As I predicted in an earlier article, Murray’s inevitable injury in the early stages brought Ilya Samsonov to the #1 position where he flourished with a combination of wins and losses that got him on the right track.

Despite the terrible month of October that the entire team had, Samsonov looked strong by winning 4 of his 6 starts and 2.33 GAA. Just like Matt Murray, Samsonov suffered a minor knee injury during a penalty shot against the Boston Bruins that would keep him out of the lineup for a few weeks.

The overall struggles with injury and poor performances with the team helped Ilya develop into a better goalie that currently has the lowest goals against average in the NHL with 1.70 and one of the highest save percentage with .939. These stats come from the two consecutive shutouts against the LA Kings and Anaheim Ducks. Samsonov looks strong and extremely confident in the net.

Both Leafs goaltenders have been very impressive in the past two months and they don't show any signs of stopping. Hockey is not an individual sport by any means, but the performance of a goalie is significant in the success of the team. Ilya Samsonov and Matt Murray could be the reason for the Leafs’ successful turnaround and forced a changed mentality with their resilience through injuries and supporting each other like every team should.