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Ilya Samsonov pulls himself from game before puck drop, Vitek Vanecek starts, then Sammy returns minutes later

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Ilya Samsonov was supposed to start in net against the Florida Panthers. Then he didn’t.

Minutes before puck drop, Samsonov could be seen speaking to the Capitals trainer at the bench. Then Sammy left the ice and walked down the runway, taking himself out of the game.

Vitek Vanecek proceeded to take the ice for his seventh start in 10 games. But VV didn’t stay in the game long.

Let’s go on a bizarre Twitter journey.

One minute and 22 seconds later, Samsonov gave up a goal to Aleksander Barkov after a broken play in front of the net.

Nearly ten minutes later, Aaron Ekblad lit the lamp too, giving Florida, who is undefeated in regulation this season, a 2-0 lead. Florida scored on two of their first eight shots of the game.

It’s unclear why Samsonov left the ice. No one on the team has addressed the matter so far. If I were to speculate, Sammy either had to go the bathroom, or perhaps he had an equipment issue. But whatever the reason, that chaos pregame did not help.

Vanecek made no stops on no shots during his short 1:45 appearance.

Update: Samsonov left the ice in favor of Vanecek at the 12:44 mark of the second period. Sammy surrendered three goals on 18 shots. It’s not clear if he was pulled by Peter Laviolette or opted out of the game himself.

With Spencer Knight spelling Sergei Bobrovsky due to an upper-body injury at the start of the second period, all four goaltenders have played in this game. Weird!

Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB

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