'We need saves': Ilya Samsonov needs a break from the Maple Leafs

Enough is enough.

Uncle.

Ilya Samsonov and the Toronto Maple Leafs need a break from each other.

To keep trotting out the goaltender who opened the season as the club's Number 1 option is to ask your fans to close their eyes and cross your fingers on the opposition's every scoring chance. 

It's asking your skaters to score six.

It's asking your coach to watch valuable standings points slip through fingers. Or, rather, through legs, under arms and over heads.

Sheldon Keefe surely has spoken to his general manager, Brad Treliving, privately about the matter multiple times. 

But it's telling how desperate the Samsonov situation became Friday night, following Toronto's second 6-5 overtime loss to the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets, that Keefe politely requested his boss do something about the cavern in the crease.

"Mistakes get magnified when you don't get saves," Keefe told reporters at Nationwide Arena.

"It’s the NHL. We need saves, we need points, and we need wins, so I’m sure Tre is going to consider everything."

Martin Jones will start Saturday in Toronto against the Carolina Hurricanes, but then the Maple Leafs head to California for a back-to-back against Los Angeles and Anaheim Tuesday and Wednesday.

If they are serious about stacking regular-season victories and not just treading water until Joseph Woll returns from his high-ankle sprain injury (in, what, mid-February?), the Leafs won't expose Samsonov's tarnished record to the Golden State.

Absolutely, it's not ideal to dig into the Marlies' development pool. But it's clear Samsonov — a guy worth rooting for — needs a more thorough reset, for everyone involved.

Swagger shattered, the goaltender has given up four, six, five, and six goals over his past four starts. He has publicly admitted that he's lost faith in his ability multiple times this season. 

"I don't know. A lot of emotion right now, after a game... This game's over. If you start thinking too much, it's probably worse. First game after Christmas break. Just heads up, continue to move."

Samsonov has been pulled thrice already this season and left in too long when it's obvious he doesn't have it on a few other nights. Like Friday, when the dreaded cannon blasted six times, which was once too many.

The Maple Leafs beat the Blue Jackets by every measure in their December rubber match: shots (33-20), scoring chances (31-20) and high-danger opportunities (12-8).

Yet even with both Columbus goalies offering sub-.900 save percentages — Elvis Merzlikins was .857 in the first period, left with an illness, and Spencer Martin offered an .842 — Samsonov outdid them with a .700.

The Maple Leafs had three different leads, two of them two-goal leads, and offensive contributions from all their big guns. They needed a couple saves from range and some steady positioning to secure the two points. Instead, they settled for one.

The Leafs' second loss to Columbus drops them to 3-5-3 against NHL's bottom seven teams; they rate 29th leaguewide when it comes to earning points against hockey's cellar dwellers.

Samsonov has fallen to 82nd among NHL goaltenders with an .862 save percentage. The only notable goaltender with a worse save percentage, Carolina's Antti Raanta (.855), has already cleared waivers.

On Friday, Keefe didn't pull Samsonov after he surrendered three on the first 10 shots or four on the first 11, presumably, to keep Jones fresh for Saturday.

If the Leafs are to lose out on a preferable playoff seeding, however, the decision to keep rolling out Samsonov at the risk of giving away points will be questioned.

"Well, we gave up 21 shots. So, I don't know how poor defensively we were. But we made bad mistakes at bad times," Keefe said. 

"Play that game over 100 times, we probably win it 99 times. But we can't make those type of mistakes with the goaltending, the way Sammy's going through it right now. We can't make those mistakes."

To their credit, the Leafs players are trying to support.

Here's Max Domi: "It's a team sport, and we're all in this together. Obviously, he plays the hardest position in our game... He's going to get through it."

And Mitch Marner: "I hope he knows every single guy in this locker room has got a lot of trust in him... Sometimes confidence rolls on you. You start questioning yourself and what you're doing. We've all gone through it... We gotta play better in front of him, for sure."

Samsonov is frustrated, to be certain, but he did cut himself some slack in his postgame availability. He reminded this was his first appearance following the Christmas break and successfully struck a more positive tone than the debacle in Buffalo.

"I'm sad about this, but I need to continue to work," Samsonov said, hoping his momentum will flip. "Maybe next game."

Maybe.

Or maybe a different goalie next game.

Fox's Fast 5

• Nick Robertson had gone 14 games without a goal and four without a point before busting his slump with a second-period deflection. 

Keefe noted that Robertson's offence has "slipped" lately and theorized that a lack of puck touches has hurt the young winger. He had registered just a single shot on net in each of his five games leading into Friday.

Robertson is working hard in limited, sheltered minutes but was drafted because of his wicked shot and offensive capabilities. Be it in the AHL or OHL, he has always been a power-play threat.

The Leafs are loaded with flank options, and only recently did Keefe add Robertson to the second power-play unit in hopes that 5-on-4 success can translate into 5-on-5 confidence.

"We're trying to get him some more touches and more minutes," Keefe said. "See if that can help his game offensively."

• Mark Giordano looked fine in his return to action after 12 games out of the lineup, registering a couple shots, blocking one and pitching in on the kill. That said, the 40-year-old's ice time was monitored. Giordano's 14:49 was lowest among Toronto's D.

"He's an ultra-competitor," Keefe said. "You can't replace the type of leadership and experience that Gio brings, so nice to have him back."

• Keefe coached his 300th regular-season game Friday.

Despite amassing an impressive 183-80-37 record and .672 points percentage in his first NHL job — never missing a post-season while having to deal with a pandemic, empty buildings, a GM change and the all-Canadian Division — Keefe was in no mood for reflection.

"If there's one thing I’ve learned about this league, you focus on every day as it comes — because it comes fast," he said. "Because of that, you can't get caught up in numbers or milestones or records or anything like that. Every day demands your best."

• Wait. Was that a Kevin Bieksa–like Superman punch that Simon Benoit attempted at the outset of his scrap with Erik Gudbranson?

• For the first time all season, each member of Toronto's Core Four scored a goal. 

For the first time ever, the Leafs lost a game when that occurred, falling to 5-0-1 in those rare instances.