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The Toronto Maple Leafs will need good goaltending to get over the playoff hump starting next week and received that kind of performance from Ilya Samsonov in a 2-1 overtime victory over the Florida Panthers in Sunrise, FL on Monday.
John Tavares scored with 22 seconds left in overtime to give Toronto their 48th victory of the season. Auston Matthews scored his 40th goal of the season (eclipsing Darryl Sittler for the most seasons (5) with 40 or more goals) and tied Rick Vaive on the club’s all-time goal list with his 299th of his career, but the story of the game was the performance of Samsonov, who made 45 saves and put forth a third straight strong performance on the road leading into the postseason.
“(Samsonov was) outstanding, with the way he battled and competed tonight. He really commanded our team in a game that doesn’t mean a lot to us in the standings and means a lot to the opposition.” Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game. “It was a true test of our commitment, the character, and the togetherness of our group. In terms of battling and being committed to the job tonight, nobody exemplified it better than Ilya. He was awesome.”
The contest was also the debut of winger Matthew Knies. The 20-year-old signed his entry-level contract on Sunday, went through medicals, and was inserted into the lineup due to Sam Lafferty coming up injured on Monday. The rookie forward played 13:09 with a variety of linemates since the Leafs played 11 / 7, and did not seem out of place.
“I thought he did a good job. I thought the pace didn’t faze him at all. His feet were moving. He made some smart plays with the puck.” Keefe said. “There were a couple of mistakes out there, but I think some mistakes are good. You can learn through that and adjust your game, which I thought he did. I thought he did a nice job.”
Toronto will play their second of back-to-back games in Tampa against the Lightning, and along with the backdrop of a playoff preview, the Leafs may have a situation with who to start in goal. The club was denied the use of an emergency exemption to call up Joseph Woll from the AHL with Matt Murray out injured since they created the cap issues by signing Knies and signed former Owen Sound goalie Nick Chenard to an ATO to backup Samsonov.
Correction: Told that wasn’t Nick Chenard on the ice this AM
Here’s video of the two goalies who skated during Leafs allotted ice time in Tampa pic.twitter.com/bvLDHPDj0K
With no chance that Samsonov will play back-to-back games, Toronto tried out five goaltenders on Sunday in case they were not granted the exemption and according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, one of these “mystery” netminders could start for the Leafs in a meaningless game against the Lightning.
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