BUFFALO, N.Y. — Ilya Samsonov can’t remember a time in his career when he felt this low mentally.
“It’s tough right now,” the Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender said, quietly, after getting mercy-pulled 28 minutes into the club’s 9-3 beatdown by the Buffalo Sabres.
“I need to figure out everything in my head. It’s not about technique. It’s not about nothing. Just in the head.
“Just about mental spot.”
When you’re dealing with an athlete as fragile as Toronto’s goaltender is right now, you can’t point fingers, for fear of making this worse.
So, the Maple Leafs naturally shared blame Thursday, for giving up nine goals for the first time since 2014 — and to a non-playoff team that entered the night with the worst goal differential in the Eastern Conference.
Two things can be true.
The Leafs laid a defensive egg in front of their netminder, feeding the desperate Sabres’ transition game, coughing up pucks like they were expired eggnog, and getting walloped in even-strength high-danger chances 12-5.
“Embarrassment is probably the right word to use. Just from start to finish, top to bottom, not nearly good enough. Just a bad hockey game from our team tonight,” Auston Matthews said, accurately.
“It was a tough night for everybody. There’s really no excuse. There’s no pinpointing the blame on one specific individual. I think, just collectively, probably one of the worst games since I’ve been here.”
The Leafs stunk.
But also, Samsonov gave the first whiff. The goalie was carefully removed from his bubble wrap and still played broken, picking up where he left off last week, when he gave up six to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Samsonov’s numbers worsen every time he hits the ice, but the eye test is even more concerning.
Samsonov got beat clean and from great distance at the 2:27 mark by a Jordan Greenway shot that any ECHLer would’ve turned away with a yawn. The kind of tone-setting goal that drags a bench and infuriates a coach.
And while Toronto responded with two snipes of its own, Samsonov got caught floppy and out of position for an Owen Power marker, then victimized in tight by Jeff Skinner thanks to a Mitch Marner giveaway.
By the time a rushing Tage Thompson beat Samsonov clean once more, early in Period 2 and from well beyond the faceoff dot, Keefe had seen enough.
The phrase “Jack Campbell” began trending on Twitter.
Head low, a shellshocked Samsonov took a tap from replacement Martin Jones — next to the wolves! — and took a moment to walk down the tunnel, away from those TV cameras magnifying his sunken posture and a swelling defeat eating him from inside out.
If Samsonov could pull that ball cap over his entire head, he would.
“You (media) guys always bring out the word concern. It’s not the right way to frame it. We need to be very aware of it. We need to help him through this,” Keefe said post-game.
“We (have) got to play better in front of him. Give him a chance to find himself. He’s gonna do his work with Curtis [Sanford, Toronto’s goalie coach], and he’s been doing his work. When he’s in the net, the guys in front of him need to give him a chance.”
The Leafs had no chance on a night in which one side was playing for its head coach’s job and the other looked like it was trying to get a goalie waived.
“It’s a rivalry that’s been around for a while,” Thompson said. “Obviously, we see quite a few (Leafs fans) in our building, and we don’t really like that. So, it’s always a little extra motivation to kind of quiet them up pretty quick.”
Despite being outnumbered in their own barn, those Sabres fans who didn’t sell their tickets to travellers from the east savoured the upset, the rout.
“One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six! Seven! Eight! We! Want! Nine!” they chanted greedily, as the visiting net overflowed like a rich kid’s stocking.
Once they got nine, they begged for 10.
Not only did the in-house DJ feed the crowd a great sampling of the Sabres’ personal goal songs (“Humble,” “Grove St. Party,” “Fishing in the Dark,” “Breaking Free” [twice], “Power,” “Started from the Bottom” [twice], “Brand New Girlfriend”), but he trolled those Leafs fans who didn’t depart early to beat the border lineup with Hall & Oates’ “You Make My Dreams.” An expert bit of trolling before they hit the bridge.
OK, so Samsonov is a liability in net.
What do the Leafs do about it?
Considering NHL’s rosters are frozen, Samsonov will back up Jones Saturday in Columbus, then hopefully clear his head over a much-needed Christmas break away from all things hockey.
Jones is rested, but Toronto faces back-to-back games on Dec. 29-30 and Jan. 2-3.
Do they give Samsonov the Campbell treatment and send him to the farm to gain confidence away from the spotlight’s pressure?
And if so, can GM Brad Treliving find a suitable replacement? Or will the Leafs call up 22-year-old Dennis Hildeby from the Marlies — a fine prospect but one they have no interest in rushing?
Best case, Samsonov can get some support and somehow summon some confidence. Unfortunately, in the face of mounting evidence, that feels like a long shot.
“I want to get it changed as quick as I can. But sometimes in life, it’s not working like that,” Samsonov said. “It’s true. It’s tough for me, but I will be fighting through this.”
Jones and the rest of the Maple Leafs will fight through this embarrassment Saturday in Columbus — a chance to enter Christmas on a nice note as opposed to that mess on Thursday.
“Well, we won’t dissect it,” Keefe said, “but we won’t forget it.”
Problem is, Samsonov needs to forget it and might not be capable of doing so.
Fox’s Fast Five
• Individually, Matthews continues to pull off the ridiculous.
Not only has the NHL’s leading goal man found the net in six straight games, but he’s up to 26 on the year and 12 in his eight December appearances.
How many players would think of pulling a spin-and-shoot this low and this close to the boards? Of that, how many could execute it with such pace?
(P.S. Because Matthews missed a game due to illness, the NHL doesn’t acknowledge his run as an official six-game streak. But Phil Kessel’s ironman streak is still alive should he sign. Silly.)
• Remember when the knock on William Nylander was his lack of consistency?
Yeah, me neither. The guy already has two points streaks of 10-plus games, and it’s not even Christmas Eve. He has registered at least one point in 27 of Toronto’s 30 games.
“Oh, he’s scary to play against,” says fellow Swede Rasmus Dahlin. “He’s so fast, but he’s so shifty. He reads where he’s got space, then he can dangle, and he can shoot. So, he’s got it all. I mean, there’s so many times you think you have him, but you don’t.
“He’s an unbelievable player. I would say he’s one of the hardest players to play against in this league. He’s got the whole package.”
• Buffalo (left) wings Skinner (injured Dec. 13) and Greenway (Dec. 2) were both game-time decisions Thursday. Both got the green light and the red lamp, scoring in their return.
• The two-faced Sabres have defeated the Maple Leafs (twice), Bruins, Golden Knights, Avalanche, and Rangers this season. They’ve also lost to the Canadiens (twice), Blue Jackets, and Penguins.
• Not-so-fun fact: Jones finished the game with a worse save percentage (.733) than Samsonov did (.737).
