The arrival of Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov was met with a lot of criticism, but so far, through the team's first 31 games, most of the questions everyone had have been answered. Both goaltenders have played very well for the Buds so far this season and have been splitting starts evenly, with 11 apiece.
A hugely underrated part of what has brought out the best in Murray and Samsonov has been their work with new Leafs goalie coach Curtis Sanford. Unlike most teams that have their goalies work out separately from the team for most of practice, the Leafs use Murray and Samsonov for most of their drills which not only helps the players, but helps the goalies immensely. Samsonov attested to that in a recent interview with Sports Illustrated.
"If you're doing just straight shots, it's not helpful. Here we're doing a lot of 3-on-2, or 2-on-1 drills. The in-zone stuff, it really helps me. It's especially important for the times you don't play, you can feel your game all of the time. This is what I needed. This is what I was doing in Russia and what I did my first season in Washington," said Samsonov.
"We're doing everything, reaction, mental stuff, how I feel after the games. How your mental game is. How you see the puck with your eyes is really important right now. With Scotty, he's more about playing with my feet and using my size, you know it was a little bit of a different game," Samsonov continued. "Here in some situations I need to stay in the butterfly for a little bit longer more than I was using before. It's a little bit of a different game for me right now."
Samsonov has become the Leafs' not-so-secret weapon at home, going 8-0-0 at Scotiabank Arena and 9-2-0 overall this season. He'll look to keep up his stellar play as he takes on his former team, the Washington Capitals tonight in Washington.
