Leafs' projected starter for tonight's Battle of Ontario revealed

The Leafs have had the luxury of being able to roll two goaltenders pretty much all year. Lately, however, Sheldon Keefe has been riding the hot hand, starting Ilya Samsonov in each of the last 4 games. Samsonov has performed amicably over that stretch, earning 7 of a possible 8 points, going 3-0-1, skating away with huge wins over the Rangers, Islanders and Jets, out-dueling the likes of Igor Shesterkin, Ilya Sorokin and Connor Hellebuyck. Samsonov's lone loss came to the Montreal Canadiens - an OT loss on Jan 21st.

Well, as great as Samsonov has played, Keefe is not about to burn out the 25-year-old. Matt Murray was the first goaltender off the ice on Friday, which would indicate that he'll get the start against his former team, which will allow Samsonov to take a breather before the Buds take on Samsonov's former team, the Washington Capitals, on Sunday.

Murray's last start was a horrendous game against the Florida Panthers on January 17th. Murray allowed 4 goals on just 8 shots before getting the hook. Samsonov came in and was solid in relief, stopping 11 of 11 and helping the Leafs secure the 5-4 OT win.

Hopefully this break will have done Murray some good, allowing him to get in some extra work with Leafs' goalie coach Curtis Sanford. We saw what a bit of a break did for Samsonov's game, helping him to fix some minor issues and re-gain his confidence, so hopefully we see similar results from Murray, who will get his first crack at his former team tonight.


The Leafs picked up a 2023 3rd round pick and a 2024 7th round pick as compensation for taking on 75% of Murray's contract this summer, giving up only "future considerations".