"I Don't Give A Fuck" -- It Appears Ilya Samsonov Isn't Totally Elated About Sergei Bobrovsky Playing Well
Steve Russell. Getty Images.The Toronto Maple Leafs have advanced to the 2nd round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2004. But they're now just 2 losses away from getting swept out of the 2nd round by the Florida Panthers after the Cats took both games in Toronto.
A huge part of the reason the Panthers have a 2-0 series lead right now is because Sergei Bobrovsky has been playing out of his goddamn mind. The Panthers have won their last 5 consecutive games. Over that stretch, Bobrovsky has games where he's made 44, 35, 34, and 33 saves. We've been getting vintage Bob these playoffs. The same Bobrovsky that won the Vezina in 2013 and 2017.
On the other end of the ice there is Ilya Samsonov. A pair of Russian goalies dueling it out in the 2nd round of the playoffs. Does the resurgence of Bobrovsky make Samsonov feel like he needs to elevate his game to the next level? Let's hear from the man himself.
Alrighty then! That settles that. I mean I don't want to read too much into his answer there but it seems like Samsonov doesn't really give a fuck.
By the way, I've been seeing quite a few people trying to say that was a shitty question from the reporter. Couldn't disagree more. We need more questions like this that'll snap players out of their typical canned responses like "get pucks deep" and "have to win the next 5 minutes". Asking a guy about another goalie playing better than him in this series after the Leafs just lost two games at home is the perfect set up for an answer like that. If we're going to be interviewing players immediately after games, we might as well actually get something out of it besides 45 seconds of coach speak. Perfect question, perfect response.
By the way, we need to mic up Kyle Dubas for the rest of this series.
