LEAFS SNAPSHOTS: Sizzling Ilya Samsonov has come a long way in net

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While much of Leafs Nation wanted scrambly Ilya Samsonov pushed right out of the crease as the calendar turned to 2024, he has had much influence with putting Toronto back on solid playoff footing.

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With four straight wins and three of the club’s four consecutive victories entering Wednesday’s match in Arizona, he’s on an overall run of 7-1. At his lowest point of the December dip, he was waived through the league and kept off the road for a week to reset mentally.

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Sheldon Keefe’s patience with Samsonov’s swings was tested since he was acquired last season, but the coach would not pile on with the critics during the rut, insisting the Russian was going to come through it.

Now his save percentage is just under .900 during the past four victories and it’s Martin Jones and the recovering Joseph Woll (ankle) who will have to prove themselves better than ‘Sammy’ to get the net back.

“A great story for sure, (but) I don’t look of it as that big a thing,” Keefe said of Samsonov’s season-saving stretch. “I always believed in him because he played so well for us last year (27 wins). It was more a story about how far gone it was in terms of not looking like himself.”

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Samsonov’s once-strong positioning went poof along with his confidence.

“The fact he’s able to bring it back, look like this and do well is less surprising to me. But credit him how he handled it, how the organization supported him, the terrific job (goalie coach) Curtis Sanford did.

“(General manager) Brad Treliving laid out a terrific plan (including having him work with the Marlies’ staff) and he did the work. And the guys have played well in front of him.”

TROUBLES AHEAD?

All these good vibes could be reversed in the next three games.

The Coyotes can’t be overlooked, the Leafs will face defending champion Vegas on the end of the back-to-back and the perennial Cup-contending Colorado Avalanche await in Denver on Saturday.

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There’s no window for a practice this week and they’ll likely have to get by one more game with Maxime Lajoie and Marshall Rifai as their third defence pairing, Rifai rushed into an NHL debut Monday in St. Louis.

“I thought he was very solid,” Keefe said of Rifai, who went deep in the Blues’ zone to help the forecheck on his first shift and was not pushed around. “Nothing stands out in terms of a mistake. He was competitive and made good decisions with the puck.”

BALLAD OF BOBBY MCMANN

McMann’s hustle to create an empty-net goal Monday further underlined the free agent’s value to the Leafs of late and why Keefe has given him more ice time on the third line and some special-teams work.

“Pretty remarkable,” Keefe said of McMann.  “He’s gone from basically a healthy scratch (last week before a flu bug created an opening for his hat trick at home against the Blues) gets into the lineup and has (six) goals.

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“But he’s played really well, too. There’s a number of good things, he looks super confident with the puck, skating and challenging defenders.

“It has been a great development. Put yourself in his shoes (last week) and it’s probably ‘this is not good. I had my chance and things are starting to slip.’ But now he’s shown he’s not going to let this (get away).”

LOOSE LEAFS

Wednesday marks 50 years since Leafs great Tim Horton died near St. Catharines when he crashed his sports car going well over the speed limit on his way back to Buffalo after a Sabres’ game in Toronto … The Leafs great power-play push of late, 12-for-20 to rank second in the league, has helped Matthews move into a tie with Rick Vaive with 90 goals, third in franchise history. Mats Sundin (124) and Darryl Sittler (120) are the only ones ahead … Samsonov is one win away from 40 as a Leaf, which only 22 others have accomplished. He’s currently tied with Jonas Gustavsson and Andrew Raycroft, though he and Jones are likely splitting this week’s back-to-back … The Leafs had Tuesday off.

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