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Ilya Samsonov on his injury scare during the second period: ‘Sammy never breaks’

By Ian Oland

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April 9, 2023 12:05 am

With Matt Murray hurt again and Joseph Woll in the minor leagues, Ilya Samsonov was the Toronto Maple Leafs’ only competent goaltender to suit up against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.

Sure, winning was important, but the biggest objective for Samsonov on this night was to stay healthy.

And then… disaster struck near the midway mark of the second period.

As Samsonov stretched out to make a save at the far side of the net, his skate struck the left post. Sammy looked uncomfortable immediately.

The Russian netminder bent over in pain as play was whistled dead.

But after taking a minute to gather himself, he chose to remain in the game, leaving the team’s backup for the evening on the bench. The Leafs signed University of Toronto goalie Jett Alexander to an amateur tryout earlier in the day.

Samsonov would go on to play the rest of the game until the 1:10 mark. Because the Leafs were blowing out Montreal 7-1, head coach Sheldon Keefe decided to pull Samsonov for Jett Alexander, making him only the sixth amateur goaltender to ever play in an NHL game.

In the locker room, Samsonov was asked about his injury scare in the second period.

“You know, like, Sammy never break, yeah?” Samsonov said, playing off Alex Ovechkin’s famous line. “But I almost broken. It’s okay, I feel good. Just a little bit squeeze, feel like tight, but nothing crazy.”

Samsonov said that he was checked by trainers and deemed to be okay.

Samsonov saved his most expansive words for Alexander who got to live out a childhood dream.

“I’m so happy for him,” Samsonov said. “Great to see in this moment, yeah. For him, first NHL game. Doesn’t matter one minute. It’s big for him. When he come to the rink, he know he’s probably sitting on the bench, but he has time for play.”

Samsonov now joins Evgeny Kuznetsov and Nicklas Backstrom to who have said RMNB in the past.

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