MOSCOW, December 15 Head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs Sheldon Keefe admitted that he wanted to change Russian goalkeeper Ilya Samsonov in the second period of the National Hockey League (NHL) regular season match with the Columbus Blue Jackets, but he was dissuaded by a member of the team's coaching staff, former Lokomotiv Yaroslavl goalkeeper Curtis Sanford.
National Hockey League (NHL)December 15, 2023 • starts at 03:00Ended at OT
TorontoCanada5: 6
ColumbusUSA
40:38 • William Nylander (Auston Matthews, William Lagesson)
43:49 • Mitchell Marner (John Tavares, Bobby McMann)
54:21 • Jake McCabe (Conor Timmins, Nick Robertson)
58:45 • Auston Matthews (William Nylander, Mitchell Marner)
59:15 • Auston Matthews (Mitchell Marner, John Tavares)
06:19 • Patrik Laine (Kent Johnson)
11:56 • Kent Johnson (Andrew Peak)
28:16 • Justin Danforth (Ivan Provorov, David Jirczek)
30:45 • Egor Chinakhov ( Ivan Provorov, David Jirczek)
34:19 • Johnny Gaudreau (Egor Chinakhov, Zach Werenski)
63:26 • Kent Johnson (Zach Werenski, Justin Danforth)
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The meeting, which took place in Toronto, ended with the guests winning in overtime with a score of 6:5. After the second period, the Canadian team trailed by five goals. Samsonov was in the starting lineup and stopped 29 shots throughout the match.
«We got through the second period and were talking about it (the goalie change). Curtis felt strongly that Sammy should stay and fight with the team. I'm glad he gave that advice because I love that Sammy was a part of it comeback,” journalist Terry Koshan quotes Keefe on social network X.