Toronto Maple Leafs Samsonov Starts vs Washington Capitals

The Toronto Maple Leafs will go with Ilya Samsonov tonight in place of the injured Matt Murray.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have now started Samsonov six games in a row after he replaced Matt Murray in a come-from-behind victory over the Panthers seven games ago.

Samsonov is posting a very strong .927 5v5 save percentage this season, which is  near the top of the league.  His .917 overall number is 13th out of 46 goalies who have played over 1000 minutes.

However, Samsonov does lead the NHL in high-danger save percentage.  This is the most important goalie stat because all NHL goalies will stop 100% of non-dangerous chances, except for when they make an error.  Therefore, high-danger save percentage gives us the best indication of skill and  talent.

Theoretically, at least, I don’t claim – now or ever – to be a wizard nor have the powers (real or implied) of a wizard. (All stats naturalstattrick.com).

Toronto Maple Leafs vs Washington Capitals

It looks like Holmberg blew his chance at the top six with six minutes in penalties on Friday, as Kerfoot is up there tonight.

The Leafs will welcome back T.J (Touchdown Jones) Brodie back to the lineup.  Brodie will be playing next to Morgan Rielly, while Timmins, and Benn will be back in the pressbox.

John Tavares will play his 1000 game tonight. That’s a lot of games.  For perspective, Matthews has played 454.  Tavares has 944 career points.  He has played seven more games as a Leaf than he has points.

I would say for the most part he’s been worth every dollar and that signing him was ultimately a great move.

Auston Matthews is out, and so is Nick Robertson.  Matt Murray may or may not be the backup, and of course Jake Muzzin is out for the season.  The Leafs injury troubles this season have been ridiculous.

If you think about it, it’s quite impressive that they’re in 3rd place, considering no other team has faced their injury situation.  In fact, given the injury situation, Boston should be further ahead than they are.

The Capitals are fighting to be a Wild Card team, and will have to hold off the Penguins, Islanders, Panthers and Sabres in order to make the Playoffs.

They beat the Toronto Maple Leafs the last time they met, and the Leafs beat them in October, making tonight the rubber-match.

I would expect the Leafs to win by a score of 4-1, with Tavares scoring a hattrick to lead the way in his 1000th game.