Many Toronto Maple Leafs fans blinked when they heard Joseph Woll would not be their team’s starting goalie for Game 7 of the playoffs against the Boston Bruins. After relieving Ilya Samsonov at the end of Game 4, Woll had been stellar in the third period of that game and then in Games 5 and 6. He had pulled the team back from a 3-1 series deficit to a 3-3 series tie. Fans were confident that, in Boston during Game 7, he could give them a similar performance, and their team would finally come back from the deficit to beat their old nemesis, the Bruins.
Unexpected Twist: Ilya Samsonov Steps Up for Maple Leafs in Game 7
However, in a dramatic turn of events, Maple Leafs Nation faced a last-minute challenge. Their Game 7 starter would not be Woll. He was unavailable due to undisclosed reasons. The news surfaced just hours before the puck dropped, forcing the Maple Leafs to revert to their backup goaltender, Samsonov, as the starter for the winner-take-all matchup.
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How discouraging. For most fans of the Blue and White, Woll had become the turning point of the postseason. They were confident he was in the Bruins’ heads and even began to think ahead. How would he do against the waiting Florida Panthers, who he had played well against during last postseason? After Games 5 and 6, Woll had buoyed everyone’s confidence based on his strong two-game performance between the pipes.
Tasked with filling Woll’s shoes, Samsonov had to have felt immense pressure as he took to the ice at the start of Game 7. Yet, despite the challenging circumstances, he delivered a solid performance. He made 29 saves on 31 shots in regulation to keep the Maple Leafs in contention. The problem was that his team couldn’t score a second goal. Jeremy Swayman was also having a strong game at the other end of the ice. Both teams were knotted in a hard-fought 1-1 tie when regulation time ended.
Overtime Heartbreak for Samsonov and the Maple Leafs
Samsonov’s efforts helped Toronto push the game to overtime. The team had a fighting chance to gain a series win. Yet, heartbreak came quickly in overtime. Before two minutes had passed, David Pastrnak got behind the Maple Leafs’ defence to convert Hampus Lindholm’s indirect bounce pass off the boards into the game-winner.
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The goal ended the Maple Leafs’ playoffs. The loss will raise off-season questions about the team’s future. Despite the disappointment of the Game 7 loss, Samsonov’s commendable performance under pressure highlighted his ability to step up. Still, as the Maple Leafs turn their attention to next season, his fate is one of the team’s critical offseason decisions. Will they try to re-sign him or allow him to walk?
Samsonov Could Not Beat Jeremy Swayman in the Crease
It is wrong to blame Samsonov for this loss, but he takes some responsibility for it. On Lindholm’s dump-in, after the puck bounced off the boards, its trajectory took it three feet in front of the crease. Samsonov could easily have dropped on the puck and frozen it with his glove. He didn’t. Morgan Rielly had just stepped on the ice and should not have been overly tired. Yet, he was either slow to react to the play or expected Samsonov to freeze the puck. He could also have ignored it and played Pastrnak, but he chose not to. Whatever happened, he allowed Pastrnak to get by him.
On the Bruins’ game-tying goal, several Maple Leafs players got their sticks on the puck but failed to control it. That was not unusual in a game like this. Both teams were strong on the forecheck and players had trouble gaining control of the puck for most of this series. In this play, Samsonov tried to see under the players in front of him instead of looking over them. As a result, he was crouched low, giving a lot of room at the top of the net. The shot that beat him did so on the short side. Great goalies should not give up goals on the short side.
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All that said, as we noted, blaming Samsomov solely for this loss is wrong-minded. There are other reasons the team failed to win another seven-game series against the Bruins. When this series started, we predicted that the Toronto goalies had to be equal to or better than the Boston goalies. Woll was better, but Samsonov wasn’t.
If we look at the stats for each of the goalies who played in the series, we see the following:
| Goalie | Wins | Losses | GAA | SV% |
| Joseph Woll | 2 | 0 | 0.86 | .964 |
| Jeremy Swayman | 4 | 2 | 1.49 | .950 |
| Ilya Samsonov | 1 | 4 | 3.01 | .896 |
| Linus Ullmark | 0 | 1 | 3.08 | .912 |
As these numbers suggest, the Maple Leafs’ loss of Woll for Game 7 was a severe blow.
What’s Next for the Maple Leafs?
The Maple Leafs will return to the drawing boards as the rest of the Stanley Cup playoffs continue for the Round 1 winners. Sadly for the fans, this season ended similarly to so many others in recent memory. It will be interesting to see what the organization does moving forward.
There should be plenty of news for Maple Leafs fans to chew on—and perhaps very soon. Some will likely involve Samsonov in one way or another.
[Note: I want to thank long-time Maple Leafs fan Stan Smith for collaborating with me on this post. Stan’s Facebook profile can be found here.]