Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov vowed to improve after allowing six goals in Tuesday's 7-3 loss in Game 1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
"I will be better. I played like shit today," Samsonov said, per TSN's Chris Johnston.
The Lightning got to Samsonov early, opening the scoring in the highly-anticipated first-round rematch just 1:18 into the first period thanks to a net-front goal from Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.
Tampa Bay added two more in the opening frame before blowing the game wide open with three successive power-play tallies in the final 5:31 of the second period. Toronto handed the reins to Joseph Woll for the final stanza with the contest out of reach. Head coach Sheldon Keefe said postgame that it's "too early to know" which netminder will start Game 2, according to TSN's Mark Masters.
Samsonov had a strong bounce-back season between the pipes after signing a one-year deal with the Leafs in free agency, posting a 27-10-5 record with a .919 save percentage. However, he now owns a 1-7 career record in the playoffs with a 3.45 goals-against average and .895 clip.
Woll has 12 NHL starts under his belt, none of which came in the playoffs. Toronto is without veteran goaltender Matt Murray, who sustained a concussion late in the regular season.
Game 2 goes Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.
Copyright © 2023 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.