The Toronto Maple Leafs almost had their best game of the season spoiled by one of the worst goaltending performances the team has ever seen.
Former Toronto Maple Leafs starter, and now likely co-starter, Ilya Samsonov let in three goals on four shots for a hilarious .250 save percentage before mercifully being pulled in the first period.
To be fair, all three goals were difficult shots, and the Leafs coverage on the PK was horrendous, but you can’t let in three goals on four shots, no matter what.
Luckily, Joseph Woll entered the game and was amazing, earning what is sure to be many more starts.
Toronto Maple Leafs Make Knies Comeback After Samsonov Meltdown
At 5v5, where most of the game is played, the Leafs controlled 55% of the play, they had 60% of the shots (reaching over 50 in total) and finished with a 55% xGoals rating. (naturalstattrick.com).
However, it wasn’t exactly a perfect game. The Leafs defense is still bad, and even though they controlled most of the game, Tampa still had just as many scoring chances as they had.
It’s kind of funny, the Leafs two best players on the night, by expected goals at least, were Ryan Reaves (though he only played for five minutes) and John Klingberg, two guys who have been their worst players so far this year.
In another funny twist, the worst statistical night of any two forwards were Max Domi and Matt Knies who turned around another wise off-night with back-to-back goals in the third period.
It was quite impressive, and Domi even looked dangerous in overtime.
Though I still hate the play where Kampf starts overtime for a faceoff, the Leafs pulled off their second straight OT victory against Tampa and (unless they changed the goal again) John Tavares was once again scored the winning goal.
Overall it was a weird game, and the Leafs now sit at 3-2.
On the positive side of things, they have been by far the better statistical team in every game they’ve played except the one against the Wild.
On the negative side, two of their three wins needed improbable multi-goal comebacks to happen. Even in games they are the better team, the Toronto Maple Leafs have been extremely sloppy and though it’s nice to have a winning record, they could just as easily (and probably should be) 1-4.
Clearly this team needs a defensive upgrade, and if Samsonov doesn’t get it together soon, they’ll also need a new back up for Joseph Woll. Samsonov’s play since training camp started has been extremely concerning.