Silencing the critics: Leafs' unorthodox goalie tandem among league's best

Like every year it seems, the Toronto Maple Leafs came into the season with many questions about how their goalies would perform.

After the departures of starters Frederik Andersen and Jack Campbell in consecutive offseason to free agency, Toronto’s front office had to get creative as to what they’d do when it came to their goaltending department.

A trade for two-time Stanley Cup winner Matt Murray from the Ottawa Senators and a three-year deal to former Washington first-round pick Ilya Samsonov were intriguing, but still left room for debate as to how they’d perform under the bright lights in Toronto.

Both had impressive pedigrees, but both were coming to Toronto as reclamation projects after a string of tough seasons in a row.

Murray was coming in off a a .906 save percentage and a 5-12-2 record last year in Ottawa, while Samsonov had a decent record of 23-12-5 with the Capitals, but had a less-than-ideal save percentage of .896.

It was a definite gamble to bring in two new goalies, and one that looked downright disastrous almost as quickly as it started.

After just one game with the Leafs, Murray went down with a groin injury during a routine practice that led to concerns about his durability based on a string of injuries during his time in Ottawa.

On November 6, Samsonov joined Murray on the injured reserve, suffering a knee injury against the Boston Bruins the day prior.

With both of their key goalies out less than a month ago, the Leafs had to make an emergency signing of Keith Petruzzelli from the Toronto Marlies, though he never actually played any time with the NHL club.

The Leafs rode Erik Kallgren for a series of nine starts from October 27 to November 12, while waiting for Murray and Samsonov to get healthy once again.

Fast forward to December, and the Leafs’ two goalie acquisitions are quickly silencing all the critics.

“The first couple periods were really hard, a little bit different than practice. I feel not uncomfortable, but [games are] a little different speed. But I’ve got my confidence,” Samsonov said following last night’s 3-1 win over the San Jose Sharks in his first game back from his early November injury.

Murray is 5-1-1 in seven games with a goals-against average of 2.44 and a save percentage of .927 for the Leafs, while Samsonov is 7-2-0 in his nine games, as he sports a .924 save percentage and a goals-against average of 2.09.

And why shouldn’t the Leafs’ goalies be feeling confident?

After last night’s victory over San Jose, the Leafs are now 8-0-2 in their last 10 games, in no small part due to their goaltending.

Toronto’s been without three key defencemen in Morgan Rielly, TJ Brodie, and Jake Muzzin for extended stretches, but the team still sports a combined goals-against per game of just 2.48, the third-lowest total in the league behind just Boston and New Jersey.

Toronto’s team save percentage, even with the absences of Murray and Samsonov, currently ranks sixth league-wide at .913 throughout the season.

“Obviously, [we’re] dealing with some injuries and [our defence has] all stepped up big time,” Murray said, offering credit to his teammates in front of him after Monday’s win over Detroit. “[We’ve had] A lot of good defensive plays, you know, breaking up plays and blocking shots and just gutting it out.”

Sure, it’s early, with nearly 70% of the regular season schedule still to be played.

But their performances shouldn’t mean nothing either, with both goalies showing a strong comfort level whenever they’ve been healthy and in the net behind a mish-mash of a defensive unit.

Each goalie has given up four goals or more in a game just once each in a combined 16 starts.

Credit where it’s due: as of right now, both moves for new goalies look like a major win for oft-criticized Leafs GM Kyle Dubas.

For Toronto, they can only hope that both goalies can remain healthy moving forward, because they’ve been quite the force whenever they’ve been in net.

You might also like:
• "My guy": Marner has a touching tribute to his dog during Leafs games