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The Toronto Maple Leafs split a difficult weekend back-to-back with a 6-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers at home on Saturday night and a 2-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh on Sunday. The Leafs were sluggish through the first 40 minutes of the contest, and a third period rally was not enough to make up the difference. That was the exact opposite of what they did against the Oilers, who they dominated for two periods before sitting on a 5-0 lead and nearly squandering it by allowing three Edmonton goals before Auston Matthews empty netter iced the victory.
Goaltending was a central figure in both contests, as both Ilya Samsonov and Joseph Woll put forth excellent performances. Samsonov made 31 saves against Edmonton before leaving late in the third period with an unspecified lower-body injury and being relieved by Martin Jones. Woll allowed early goals from Brady Skjei on a screenshot and the game-winner on a power-play from Sebastian Aho that deflected off of Jake McCabe’s skate before slamming the door with a 41-save effort. Nick Robertson scored for Toronto midway through the third period, but the Leafs could not convert on four power plays and could not beat former Leaf Frederik Andersen, who made 32 saves on the night.
Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe indicated after the win on Saturday that Samsonov was fine, and elaborated on his status before the game on Sunday.
"I wouldn't say he's necessarily feeling better, but I think it's pretty similar to how he was last night. The most encouraging thing for us is it's nothing to do with anything that you would typically think of that would prevent a goalie from playing. He's certainly not at 100%, but we're hopeful that after today and another day off tomorrow that he's in a better place and we'll see precisely where he's at. Keefe said. "The initial diagnosis and injury itself is not anything that we would consider concerning.”
The Leafs schedule of playing every other night should allow Samsonov more recovery time if they decide to skip him a turn in the goalie rotation by playing Woll back-to-back on Tuesday against New Jersey or mixing in Martin Jones for a start against the Devils.
Toronto’s third-place lead is down to four points over Tampa, but the Leafs have a game in hand. At this point, the club is utilizing their depth additions after the deadline, rotating a pair of defensemen on the weekend and giving an ailing Tyler Bertuzzi an extra day of recovery. The club has a scheduled day off on Monday, so we will not know be able to gauge if Mitch Marner is any closer to returning to the lineup or Samsonov’s status until the morning skate on Tuesday.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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