TORONTO — Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov present as an ideal odd couple. A classic yin-and-yang, if you will.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have just wrapped up practice and their goaltenders sit side by side at the front of the room in companionable conversation.
Murray then rapidly becomes focused on removing and storing his gear, politely postponing interview requests until after retreating to the player’s lounge for a replenishing smoothie.
Meanwhile, Samsonov remains sweating through his full kit, engaged in an amiable chat elsewhere about favorite television shows and laughing through the benefits — or not — of selecting subtitles in his native Russian.
It’s one brief snapshot captured of a singular goalie tandem producing two terrific seasons. Look closer, and you start to see what makes them tick.
Murray eventually encourages Samsonov to finish dressing before they’ll sit down together with ESPN to talk about what’s been a flourishing first half to this season.
The ice breaker is asking each goalie to describe the other in a single word. Samsonov doesn’t hesitate.
“Hardworking,” he says of Murray, nodding affirmatively as if to confirm it’s the only correct response.
Murray, now wielding a wry smile, takes longer.
“One word? One word is not enough,” he says, continuing to think out loud. “One word is tough. I can’t narrow him down to just one word. He’s too complex. But maybe I’d say, fun. He’s a fun dude. That’s a good one.”
It’s also what the Leafs have in their goaltending duo: a good one. Murray and Samsonov display an easy chemistry off the ice that reflects in how seamlessly they’ve shared Toronto’s crease. So far, Murray’s produced superbly, at 10-4-2 with a .916 save percentage and 2.57 goals-against average. Samsonov has been stellar, at 12-3-1 with a .916 save percentage and 2.29 goals-against average.
The results from the two are equally excellent. It’s the approaches that aren’t the same. Theirs are different styles, different strengths and weaknesses, different perspectives. Even opposing methods on how to answer the same question. But Murray and Samsonov also seem to click.
Maybe it’s from being thrown into the same fire — via different routes, of course — through a barrage of offseason skepticism that two newcomers could shore up Toronto’s most glaring area of need. Whatever the reason, Murray and Samsonov have arrived exactly where they want to be.
At exactly the same time.
TORONTO REACHED A crossroads last summer.
The Leafs’ incumbent starting goalie Jack Campbell was an unrestricted free agent eyeing the payday to match his breakout 2021-22 campaign (31-9-6 record, .914 SV%, 2.64 GAA). Toronto hadn’t, for whatever reason, ponied up to keep Campbell around.
It also wasn’t likely the Leafs would turn to backup Petr Mrazek either, after the veteran’s disastrous first season with the team — 12-6-0, .888 SV%, 3.34 GAA — to open a four-year long pact.
Basically, changes were afoot. Toronto was ready to restructure.
Mrazek went first, shipped to Chicago on July 7 with draft picks exchanged on both sides to sweeten the deal. Campbell would eventually head west too, becoming Edmonton‘s new No. 1.
While that happened, Murray, 28, was four hours down the highway from Toronto locked in a bad marriage with the Ottawa Senators. The former Pittsburgh Penguin (and two-time Stanley Cup champion) signed there in October 2020, inking a four-year, $25 million deal that failed to pan out as expected. Murray was frequently hurt. The Senators were losing, a lot.
Murray was eventually waived in November 2021 and sent to the American Hockey League’s Belleville Senators to play a pair of games. Back in the NHL, the veteran battled hard (5-12-2, .906 SV%, 3.05 GAA) until a season-ending concussion injury took him out in March.
It was a bad situation. So naturally, Leafs’ general manager Kyle Dubas turned a few heads when he acquired Murray via trade on July 12. The return was future considerations and Ottawa retaining 25% of Murray’s salary. Granted, Dubas and Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe had history with the Thunder Bay, Ontario native from their time as GM, coach and goaltender respectively for the OHL’s Sault-Ste Marie Greyhounds in the early 2010s. But still, Ottawa was practically giving away Toronto’s next starter.
One day later, Dubas secured Samsonov. The 25-year-old was coming off a career-worst season (.896 SV%, 3.02 GAA) in Washington, where he’d played since being drafted 22nd overall by the Capitals in 2015. Samsonov had newly hit the open market after Washington failed to qualify him when Toronto swooped in on July 13 with a one-year, $1.8 million contract offer.
“This is a great team, yeah?,” Samsonov says now of choosing to become a Leaf. “The last five, six years, there’s been very strong leadership. It’s a nice city to play hockey in; it’s the best in the world. It’s not every day that a GM calls you and asks you if you want to go to play in Toronto. It’s not an everyday chance. I wanted to try. You have nice teammates here. And we have a good chance to win.”
That opportunity helps mitigate other, less alluring aspects of suiting up in blue and white. Toronto is a notoriously pressure-packed market desperate for the playoff success it felt promised by an enormous investment in the club’s offensive corps. Murray’s injury history made him an easy target of critics unwilling to believe he could stand tall in Toronto. Those concerns weren’t quelled when he suffered a hip injury in October after playing only one game.
If Murray felt the sting of criticism — before or after — he doesn’t let on.
“I don’t know. It’s hard to compare something like [pressure],” Murray said. “No matter where you play, there’s always going to be pressure. Everybody wants to win. You put pressure on yourself, and you just want to do the best you can for yourself, for your teammates, for everybody, for the organization. It’s just learning how to deal with it, how to take things one day at a time and just try to enjoy the ride. I’m definitely enjoying the ride this year.”
Samsonov releases a noise of assent. He missed time with an injury too, joining Murray on the sidelines in early November with a knee ailment. Despite that, Samsonov said they’re having a good time. And that’s morphed into potent parallel seasons for another big reason they both — shockingly — agree on.
“I think the biggest factor in that [success] is the way the team is playing in front of us,” Murray notes. “That dictates the difficulty of our job and the type of chances that we’re seeing and the amount of them that we’re seeing. Our team is playing incredibly well defensively.”
“If you can see a puck well in a game, life is much easier,” adds Samsonov, entering his own soliloquy about the virtue of a full-team effort. “And you know me and Matt, we both are good guys. We’re good teammates, and we try to push each other. And this [tandem] has felt good for us. We never stop. We’re always trying to get better every day for our teammate.”
Murray and Samsonov were lucky. They bonded from day one (“he was a nice guy,” Samsonov said fondly of meeting Murray). It was correspondingly painless learning how to be each other’s motivation.
“Sometimes you come to the rink, and you don’t want to do nothing,” Samsonov explained. “We’re humans, too. But when you see how your partner is working, you try to get better, or you try to do the same as they’re doing. Sometimes mentally you’re going down, and you don’t want to do nothing, or you feel bad. But to see what’s your partner doing, you ask, ‘can you try to get with him and do more?'”
“Everything feeds off [something else],” Murray said. “On those days when maybe you don’t have all the juice that you’d like to have, you look at the guy across from you, and you see the work ethic that they’re bringing, and you just want to match that.”
SOME TEAMS ARE compelled to pick a starting goaltender and ride him. Others crave a more balanced approach.
Both tracks can work. And Toronto’s choice to lean heavily on its one-two punch is paying off.
Let’s back up: Through Jan. 10, 79 different goalies made at least one NHL start this season. Nine teams started one goalie in at least 70% of their games, to be what you’d call a “workhorse.” Eight of those nine netminders were on teams in playoff position (Arizona’s Karel Vejmelka being the lone exception) and together the nine goalies had a .913 save percentage.
On the other side, 11 teams had started two goalies in at least 35% of their games. Seven of those clubs were in playoff position, and there was a collective .906 SV% among those netminders.
Murray and Samsonov had, to that stage, each played exactly 39% of Toronto’s tilts. Together they sat top 20 in save percentage among goalies with at least 10 starts. Samsonov was fourth in GAA, and Murray was 15th. Both goaltenders have been reliably ascending towards the NHL’s upper tier.
That didn’t happen without setbacks. Murray sat out four weeks with that hip issue. Samsonov’s three-week absence overlapped. Toronto clung then to rookie Erik Kallgren, striving to stay afloat until their regulars returned. Murray and Samsonov came back and delivered, until recent intersecting rough patches led to recycled conversations about Toronto’s propensity for goalie woes.
It was on Murray and Samsonov to keep their own heads up through mutual support.
“It’s hard to do this, because if you didn’t play [in a certain game] you don’t understand,” Samsonov said. “I’m trying not to touch [on] a lot, because he has more insight and you just watched, and your words don’t help too much. But even if your emotion is bad or a little bit lower, the next day, the sun is up again. After [a bad loss], Matt said good words to me. He said, ‘Don’t think about this. You just need to move on. Get some good food, good sleep and you’ll be getting better.'”
“A lot of times with goaltending, results don’t necessarily always show the best picture or tell the best story,” Murray said, a shrewd look on his face. “You could do everything in your power the right way and still get a weird bounce or the guy makes a great play, and you still get scored on or maybe you get a couple of weird bounces in a game. So you focus on the process and just doing what you can to control the situation to the best of your ability. The result will take care of itself if you’re doing the right process.”
And, in a pinch, lean on the guy next to you. He knows better than most.
“We’re always sitting together, always on the ice together early. We’re always paired,” Murray said. “We’re on a different time and pace than everyone else.”
MURRAY AND SAMSONOV are opposites attracting. Goaltending is the common ground; how each player excels at it varies.
“He is doing a lot before a game,” Samsonov said of Murray. “He is good at getting prepared. It’s not superstitions, but it’s a lot of preparation. A lot more than me; way more than me. I’m trying to get ready one hour before our team meeting. I come to the game rink, get simple stuff done. I tape my stick. Get some food. Nothing crazy.”
Murray concedes with a smile that “everybody has their routines.” Those extend to game day mornings too, where — surprise — Murray and Samsonov put faith in opposing rituals when it’s their turn to start.
“I prefer not to [take morning skate],” Murray said. “I just find I get a better nap when I don’t skate. And as I get older, something that comes into contention a little bit more is the wear and tear on hips and knees and all that stuff. And I always just feel more energetic and a little bit looser. If you do skate in the morning, it’s almost like you have to recover again before the game starts, for me anyway.”
His partner rolls entirely the other way.
“I like to skate, not more than 20 minutes though; not too long,” he said. “I just want to see the puck a little bit and have a simple drill just to see, how is my arm working? How is my body prepared for a game? And just to feel the puck with my eyes. It’s just what I need in the morning, so I’ll feel good, and it helps me a little bit mentally, too.”
The duo’s eating habits are another study in contrasts. Samsonov loves all the sushi options available in Toronto’s downtown core; Murray’s favorite spot is a lush Italian restaurant in the city’s posh Yorkville neighborhood, when he’s not indulging in wife Christina’s home cooking.
And those meals before a game? One’s a creature of habit with his plate; another can’t stand food-based monotony.
“I always switch it up because I just tend to get tired of eating the same exact thing,” Murray said. “The base of it kind of stays the same. I usually have a bowl of soup, a salad, pasta of some kind, protein, and then like a sweet potato. But I like to switch up the dressing or the sauce on the chicken. I get sick of eating the exact same thing every game day.”
“I eat the exact same thing on game day,” Samsonov counters excitedly. “At lunch I’m doing just the chicken with rose sauce and spaghetti all the time, before every game. And right before playing I’ll do some oat milk [for fuel]. I didn’t change this for the last five years. I like it. But in the offseason, no spaghetti. It’s not working then.”
Murray laughs lightly as Samsonov finishes dissecting his palate. It’s frequently made clear how much they enjoy each other’s company, how an easy rhythm has formed in just a few months’ time.
And true to form, they cite two distinct moments as their season highlight to date.
For Samsonov, it was beating Washington in his first start as a Leaf. His was the ultimate revenge game.
For Murray, it was watching Samsonov’s triumph in an all-around win. That was a night where Murray could truly feel Toronto’s potential — and how fortunate he and his partner are to be a part of that.
“I was on the bench, we were playing against Anaheim, and we won 7-0 at home,” Murray recalled. “I just remember thinking we were firing on all cylinders. We just dominated play. I thought the whole game, our forecheck was great, we stripped pucks, we barely spent any time in our zone, he [Samsonov] was great. I just thought it was a real, real dominant effort.
“That’s what stands out to me most about us, when we can play games like that. That’s when it’s good.”
It all comes down to this. The Presidents’ Trophy-winning Winnipeg Jets host the St. Louis Blues in the 200th Game 7 in Stanley Cup playoffs history Sunday (7 p.m. ET, TBS).
One team will advance to the second round, while the other will get an early start to the offseason — and try to fix what went wrong.
For the Blues, this is the club’s 19th all-time Game 7, the most of any non-Original Six team. They have gone 10-8 in Games 7s, with the most recent one being the 2019 Stanley Cup Final against the Boston Bruins, which they won 4-1.
This version of the Jets has much less Game 7 history on which to draw; their only Game 7 was a second-round victory over the Nashville Predators in 2018.
Who wins this one? We’ve gathered the ESPN hockey family to identify the key players to watch in the contest — as well as their final score predictions.
Who is the one key player you’ll be watching in Jets-Blues?
Ryan S. Clark, NHL reporter: If he plays, it’s Mark Scheifele. The hit in Game 5 from Brayden Schenn and/or Radek Faksa generated quite a bit of conversation about what is arguably the most physically demanding series in the first round. Scheifele’s play this season and this series prior to the hit reinforces what makes him a legit top-line center in this league. We saw how the Jets maneuvered around his absence for the final two periods of Game 5, while Game 6 proved why they need contributions from everyone if he can’t go.
But again, that’s if Scheifele plays. He skated Saturday in a tracksuit, with Scott Arniel saying the center will be a game-time decision Sunday.
Arda Öcal, NHL broadcaster:Connor Hellebuyck is the obvious answer here for me because he’s been “Vezina” at home (especially Game 2) and “Vezina from Temu” on the road.
Hellebuyck has allowed four or more goals in seven straight road playoff games, which ties the second longest such streak in Stanley Cup playoff history. But Game 7 is at home. The pressure is on but he’s in comfortable confines, surrounded by a “Whiteout.” Which version of Hellebuyck do we get Sunday night?
Kristen Shilton, NHL reporter:Connor Hellebuyck, of course. Has there been a Jekyll/Hyde performance like this in recent years?
The Vezina finalist can play lights-out at home and like a fish out of water on the road. Does that trend continue in Game 7? What version of the goalie shows up for this one?
But as a bonus, I’ll toss Pavel Buchnevich into this equation. He’s been driving the Blues’ offense, and if Hellebuyck is on his A-game then St. Louis is going to need Buchnevich to channel his hat trick energy from Game 3 to help the Blues pull off a stunning road win.
Greg Wyshynski, NHL reporter:Jordan Binnington renewed his title as one of the NHL’s most clutch goaltenders with his 31-save performance in Team Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off championship win over the U.S. — including six saves in overtime. He first earned it in 2019, backstopping the Blues to the Stanley Cup with Game 7 wins over Dallas and Boston.
Now he’s got a chance to reestablish those credentials.
Binnington had a 0.82 goals-against average and a .968 save percentage in those prior Game 7s. While Hellebuyck has been terrible in St. Louis, Binnington hasn’t been much better in Winnipeg, generating an .861 save percentage and a 3.44 goals-against average and giving up four goals in two of the three games. But as 4 Nations showed, Binnington can meet the moment. (Although this time, Kyle Connor will actually be in the lineup for the opposition. Not that we’re bitter or anything.)
The final score will be _____.
Clark: 4-3 Jets. There have been a few themes in this series. The first being that offense hasn’t been an issue — the teams have combined to score more than six goals in all but one game. The second is that the home team has won every game; I say that continues, and the Jets advance.
Öcal: 6-5 Jets. Hellebyuck doesn’t have his best game, but the Jets outscore that challenge, and Kyle Connor scores another third-period goal in this series to win it.
Shilton: 5-4 Jets. The Jets have been too good on home ice to let this one slip away. That’s not to say a St. Louis win would be surprising, but even if Hellebuyck is off, Winnipeg’s offense should be able to provide enough buffer that the Jets can squeak through with a narrow victory to advance.
Wyshynski: 5-3 Jets. The Jets would be toast if this game were played in St. Louis because it’s a demonstrable fact that Hellebuyck is a disaster on the road in the playoffs. He’s slightly below replacement at home in the postseason, but Winnipeg will take that considering his three removals on the road.
The Blues are first in the playoffs in 5-on-5 offense and goals-for percentage at home. But Winnipeg is second in both categories. Hellebuyck calms down, and the offense gets ratcheted up at home, especially now that Nikolaj Ehlers has a game under his belt, having not played since April 12 due to a foot injury.
Many of Mikko Rantanen’s greatest moments have come in a Colorado Avalanche sweater. It’s just that the most defining moment of his career came at their expense.
It wasn’t enough that the Dallas Stars were trailing by two goals. It was also the fact that Rantanen scored a hat trick in a string of four unanswered goals that saw his current team, the host Stars, eliminate his old team, the Avalanche, in a 4-2 win Saturday in Game 7 of the Western Conference quarterfinals at the American Airlines Center.
“Obviously, the feeling was incredible to win a series,” Rantanen said in his postgame media availability. “This series was not exactly what I expected. I expected a seven-game series, even before Game 1. The ups and downs in the series. … Belief was there with the group the whole time. Obviously, I was able to make a pay to get the first one and the crowd started to roll.”
The Stars, attempting to reach the conference finals a third straight time, will advance to the semifinal round in which they will await the winner of series featuring the St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets. That encounter will be decided Sunday in Game 7 in Winnipeg.
Soon, the Stars’ collective focus will shift to another Central Division foe. But for now? The attention before, during, and after the game, was on Rantanen.
Part of what made the Avalanche-Stars series arguably the most intriguing first-round series in either conference was the fact it placed two 100-point teams that are in championship window against each other. But, it also came with several subplots with the notable being the team that traded quite a bit to land Rantanen — with the hope he could win them a Stanley Cup now — needed him to defeat the team that he won a championship with back in 2022.
With one assist through the first four games, there was a discussion about if the Stars could manage to win with a sputtering Rantanen on top of the fact they were already without two of their best players in defenseman Miro Heiskanen and forward Jason Robertson.
Rantanen responded with a three-point performance in Game 5, and a four-point performance in Game 6 only to then have a hand in each goal on Saturday. His first goal came on the power-play with 12:12 remaining in the third period when he found enough space to fire a wrist shot that beat MacKenzie Blackwood.
Then came the game-tying goal and the significance it carried. The Stars went on the power play went Avalanche forward Jack Drury was called for holding. Drury part of the trade package the Carolina Hurricanes used to get Rantanen in late January before they would trade him to the Stars.
Drury’s penalty opened the door for Rantanen to score a game-tying goal that might be one of, if not, his signature salvo. Rantanen skated into the Avalanche zone in a 1-on-3 before he split two players before going around the net for a wrap-around goal that went off the skate of Samuel Girard with 6:14 left.
Three minutes later, the Stars received another power-play opportunity that saw Rantanen along with another former Avalanche forward in Matt Duchene work together to find Wyatt Johnston for the game-winning goal.
In the final minute, the Avalanche pulled Blackwood in the attempt to grab a late goal and force over time. Instead? Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger withstood a barrage that officially ended when Stars forward Tyler Seguin got the puck out of the zone only for Rantanen to skate in on an open net for the hat trick with three seconds left.
“I couldn’t care less who scored for them, I really couldn’t,” Avalanche captain and left winger Gabriel Landeskog said when asked about what it was like to watch Rantanen score a hat trick. “Mikko is one of my best friends and I love him, but I couldn’t care if he scored or if somebody else scored.”
For eight full seasons, Rantanen was part of a homegrown movement that saw the Avalanche go from finishing with what was then the worst record in the salary cap era back in 2016-17 to become a perennial favorite to win the Stanley Cup, which did they did in 2023, while also becoming a model for the need to build through the draft.
Building through stars such as Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon, Landeskog and Rantanen allowed the Avalanche to become a success. As did the moves they made to get other key figures like Valeri Nichushkin and Devon Toews.
Like all teams in a championship window, the Avs were facing the prospect of possibly making a difficult decision. They had yet to agree to a new contract with Rantanen, who was a pending unrestricted free agent. Then, came the blockbuster trade that few throughout the league saw coming.
The Avalanche traded Rantanen in a three-team trade that saw them get Martin Necas and Drury along with two draft picks. Rantanen’s time with the Carolina Hurricanes was limited to just two goals and six points in 13 games.
Despite the fact the Hurricanes are also among that cadre of championship contenders, Rantanen struggled to find cohesion in Raleigh. Rather than run the risk of watching leave for nothing in free agency, the Hurricanes put out feelers to a few teams with the Stars being one of them.
A long-time admirer of Rantanen, the Stars packaged two first-round picks, three second-round picks and former prized prospect Logan Stankoven to get Rantanen. They then signed him to an eight-year contract worth $12 million annually.
“It’s two things: It’s where our team’s at, and it’s Mikko Rantanen,” Stars general manager Jim Nill told ESPN back in March.
Rantanen finished the regular season with five goals and 18 points in 20 games prior to the showdown with his former team.
Not only did Rantanen’s hat trick condemn his former team to their second first-round exit since winning the Stanley Cup, but it continued a theme of former Avalanche eliminating their previous employers.
The Avalanche and Stars faced each other in last season’s Western Conference semifinal that saw Duchene, a former Colorado first-round pick, score the game-winning goal.
A year later, it was another former Avalanche first-round pick who delivered the devastating blow.
“It seems pretty fitting,” Johnston said about Rantanen. “Obviously, we want to win for each other and I think that goes a little extra when it’s a guy like that who is such a big part of our team and was there for a long time and everyone knows the trade that went on. It’s so awesome. We’re so happy as a group for him.”
As if Rantanen scoring a hat trick in a four-goal comeback wasn’t enough, there’s also the fact that this is now the ninth consecutive Game 7 that Stars coach Peter DeBoer has won his career.
DeBoer’s nine wins in Game 7s broke a tie with Darryl Sutter for the most in NHL history. It was also DeBoer’s third game 7 wins with the Stars.
“I felt something was going to happen,” DeBoer said. “But I could not have predicted that.”
RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes have signed goaltender Frederik Andersen to a one-year contract for next season, worth $2.75 million for the 35-year-old veteran.
General manager Eric Tulsky announced the deal Saturday, a little over 48 hours before his team starts the second round of the playoffs against the Washington Capitals.
Andersen could earn up to $750,000 in incentives for games played and his participation in a potential run to the Eastern Conference finals next season. He would get $250,000 for playing 35 or more games, another $250,000 for getting to 40 and $250,000 if the Hurricanes reach the East finals and he plays in at least half of the playoff games.
“Frederik has played extremely well for us and ranks in the top 10 all-time for winning percentage by an NHL goalie,” Tulsky said. “We’re excited that he will be staying with the team for next season.”
Andersen and the Hurricanes, the No. 2 seed in the Metropolitan Division, advanced past the New Jersey Devils in Round 1 last week. They will meet the Capitals, who won the division crown, for the right to make the NHL’s final four.
Extending Andersen could give the team a goaltending tandem with Pyotr Kochetkov for less than $6 million combined.
Anderson, a Denmark native who previously played for the Anaheim Ducks and Toronto Maple Leafs, has become coach Rod Brind’Amour’s most trusted option in net. He is expected to return to the starting role for Game 1 of the Capitals series after getting injured in the first round against New Jersey.