Home / News / It’s anyone’s guess who will start Game Three for the Capitals between Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov

It’s anyone’s guess who will start Game Three for the Capitals between Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov

By Ian Oland

 0 Comment

May 6, 2022 2:00 pm

Coming into the Capitals-Panthers first-round series, Peter Laviolette said he hoped his Game One starter would grab the reins, but remained realistic that both goalies would likely play in the series.

Now, after Vitek Vanecek got pulled in Game Two and Ilya Samsonov stopped all the shots he faced in the third period, the Capitals have a dilemma on their hand.

Which goalie should start Game Three?

If it were up to NBC Sports Washington’s Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin, Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette would turn to Samsonov and give him his first start Saturday.

“Judging by the third period, it will be Ilya,” Beninati said. “I thought Samsonov was really sharp. Again, I keep coming down to the fact that the coaching staff has more faith in Vanecek and in a game like tonight where it spiraled out of control, you had to go to Samsonov in the third period. But he’s going to sit there and play really well in the third and sit there and go ‘Why not me for Game Three?'”

“I’ve had heard Laviolette say we’ll probably use both goaltenders and I would go on Samsonov on Saturday afternoon,” Laughlin replied. “That would be my pick. I mean, he’s big. He looked very stellar in the third period. But again, the game’s out of hand, but he did come up with some solid saves. His positioning was good. They threw everything but the kitchen sink at him and he looked very comfortable. It’s going to be a tough decision for Vitek or Sammy to play on home ice. To play in front of the home fans. It’s going to be interesting who he chooses, but if I was a guessing man, I think Samsonov would get the start come Saturday.”

Meanwhile, inside NBC Sports Washington studios, the analysts seemed to lean towards giving Vanecek another game. Brent Johnson, who played 12 years in the NHL including four seasons with the Capitals, believed that Vanecek should start on Saturday and that most of Samsonov’s stops came from the perimeter and under no pressure.

Al Koken stated that if Vanecek gets the start, it’ll show that he is the person who the coaching staff believes in most — at least right now.

“If it’s Vitek Vanecek who gets the start on Saturday, even after getting pulled tonight, I think it gives you all you need to know on what the coaches are thinking on who the guy they believe – I think Joe B even said it a few minutes ago – have the most trust in,” Koken said. “And maybe you deserve to reward him for understandably and justifiably praised him for in Game One and give him a chance to say β€˜you know what, we didn’t like the third goal but we didn’t like how our entire team played in front of you after those first 17 minutes. So let’s give you one more chance to prove what we think about you is correct.’”

As for Peter Laviolette, the head coach gave Samsonov credit for his Herculean effort in the third but seemed to play down his performance somewhat.

“I thought he came in and played well because I don’t think we played very well at all in the third,” Laviolette said. “I thought he came in and made some saves. He had a lot of shots from outside. He got to field some pucks. That was good. Had to make a couple of saves as well.”

Samsonov stopped all 16 shots he faced in the game while Vanecek gave up 5 goals on 16 shots in Game Two. Through five periods, Vanecek has surrendered seven goals on 44 shots. Vanecek’s overall numbers, though it is a very small sample size, do not look good: 4.21 GAA and a .863 save percentage. Moneypuck says Vanecek has stopped -3.1 Goals Saved Above Expected (second-worst in this year’s postseason) while Samsonov is at +1.9.

Who would you start in Game Three?

,