Maple Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov decided to take the blame for his team’s 3-1 loss to the Florida Panthers on Thursday night.
The 26-year-old stopped 21 of the 23 pucks his rivals sent his way.
“I couldn’t see the first goal and the second one either,” he said during his post-match press conference. Maybe I need to buy some glasses.”
In three games so far in the 2023-24 season, Samsonov has maintained a record of 2-1-0, a save percentage of .861 and a goals-against average of 3.67.
“The result may not be the same today [jeudi], but I feel like my game is a little better. I’m moving better. She [les Panthers] “I made a few good shots,” the Russian analyzed.
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Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe, on the other hand, believes there is a bigger problem in his training than his goalie’s equipment.
“We won’t be able to really focus on our goalkeeping until we play better defensively,” he said. He [Samsonov] did a good job. He made some very important saves for us in the penalty shootout.”
“He allowed two goals that came from distance. However, we would have liked to have seen him find a way to make one of his two saves, Keefe said. Especially when the goalkeeper at the other end doesn’t give you much. But hey, I thought it was a good game and that Sammy made progress in finding his rhythm.
It now remains to be seen whether Samsonov will be in net for the Leafs’ next game, Saturday night against the Lightning in Tampa Bay. The other goalkeeper on the Toronto team is Joseph Woll. In his only start of the season so far, he allowed three goals on 30 shots in a 4-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.