Toronto Maple Leafs’ Ilya Samsonov leaves game early with knee injury

The Toronto Maple Leafs announced before the third period of Saturday night’s game against the Boston Bruins that goaltender Ilya Samsonov would not return due to a knee injury.

It is currently unclear when the injury occurred during the game, as well as the severity of the injury. Samsonov also didn’t seem to be struggling during the match before leaving.

Samsonov had stopped 13 of 14 shots in the game, allowing his only goal on a penalty shot attempt by Brad Marchand. Erik Kallgren replaced Samsonov in the third period, stopping all seven face-off shots to secure the Leafs 2-1 victory.

Samsonov is off to a strong start in Toronto this season as heading into Saturday’s game he was 5-2-0, .920 save percentage and 4.9 5-on-5 goals saved over the expectations, the sixth-best total in the league.

Originally a first-round pick by the Washington Capitals in 2015, Samsonov joined the Leafs in the offseason after the Caps decided against calling him an RFA, signing for a year at 1.8 million. dollars. He will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season.

Per the team’s current depth chart, Kallgren will assume the Leafs’ starting role for the time being, while the Leafs’ other NHL goaltender, Matt Murray, is on the long-term injured list with an injury to a captor. Kallgren is 0-1-2 the year before Saturday’s game, with an .875 save percentage and .77 5-on-5 goals above expectations.

In addition to the injuries to Samsonov and Murray, the Leafs have forward Kyle Clifford on injured reserve and defensemen Jordie Benn and Jake Muzzin on the LTIR, with the latter potentially unable to play again. They just had defenseman Timothy Liljegren in the lineup Saturday for the first time this season, after he underwent sports hernia surgery early in training camp.