Ilya Samsonov, Vitek Vanecek struggling to find consistency in playoffs. Sound familiar?

To solve their goaltending problems this past season, the Washington Capitals signed Darcy Kuemper, a reliable veteran who helped the Colorado Avalanche win the Stanley Cup. And the Capitals did get better in net: Kuemper played more regularly and recorded a .908 save percentage and allowed 2.87 goals per game — stats that were comparable, or better, than the numbers of the two goaltenders he replaced. 

But in a bit of irony, Kuemper ended up sitting out this postseason as the Capitals missed the playoffs — while the team’s former goalies both made the playoffs. 

Ilya Samsonov and Vitek Vanecek have played central roles for the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New Jersey Devils, respectively, this postseason, a year after they struggled in Washington’s first-round exit to the Florida Panthers. And yet, their performances in the playoffs haven’t exactly left the Capitals regretting the decision to let them walk. 

New Jersey benched Vanecek after the Devils fell behind 2-0 in a best-of-seven series against the New York Rangers. And since making the switch to Akira Schmid, the Devils have won two straight to tie the series — with the difference in goaltending providing a huge boost. Before he was benched, Vanecek allowed nine goals and had an underwhelming .827 save percentage. 

Samsonov has found more success — Toronto holds a 3-1 lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning — but his individual statistics aren’t much better. The 25-year-old is giving up 3.72 goals per game and holds a save percentage of just .876 — second-worst among goalies with at least three playoff starts this year.

To Samsonov’s credit, however, the Russian came up big in Game 3 when he stopped 36 shots. He also had timely saves in Toronto’s come-from-behind 5-4 Game 4 win. Maybe his shaky Game 1 (six goals allowed) will be an outlier in a long playoff run. 

The overall letdown, though, comes after stellar seasons from both Samsonov and Vanecek. Samsonov finished the regular season with a career-best .919 save percentage and a 2.33 goals against average, while Vanecek posted a .911 save percentage a 2.45 goals against average — also career bests.  

With the Capitals, the biggest problem for both goalies was that they weren’t able to establish consistency.

A year later, that still appears to be the case. 

“He’s been a great teammate,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said when asked how Vanecek has handled his demotion. “Been totally on board, totally supportive. I had a great conversation with him and I have mentioned our team — we didn’t play really well in front of him and when you look at what we’ve done the last two games, we cleaned up our defensive game. That would bode well for his game, too.” 

Oddly enough, these NHL playoffs are littered with former Capitals goalies. Phillipp Grubauer, Braden Holtby’s backup on Washington’s Stanley Cup-winning team in 2018, has played well (.918 save percentage) and helped the Seattle Kraken give the Avalanche a fight in a series that’s tied 2-2. The Los Angeles Kings’ Pheonix Copley, the New York Islanders’ Semyon Varlamov, the Rangers’ Jaroslav Halak are all backups who played well in the regular season. 

Even Las Vegas’ Logan Thompson, the Golden Knights starter who hasn’t played this postseason because of an injury, credits his rise because he spent time in Washington’s development camp as a prospect. 

But Samsonov and Vanecek perhaps hold the most relevance to the Capitals because one of them was supposed to take the reins after Holtby departed in 2020. Samsonov, in particular, was supposed to be the Capitals’ heir apparent as the team drafted 22nd overall in 2015.  

That failed to happen. Samsonov and Vanecek split time over the next two seasons — with both going through stretches in which it seemed like they were about to finally become “The Guy”. Last season, Vanecek got the nod for the first two games of the Capitals’ playoffs before coach Peter Laviolette benched the goaltender in Game 2 for Samsonov, who started the rest of the series. 

By the end of Washington’s first-round exit that year — with Samsonov and Vanecek combining for an .899 save percentage — it was clear that the Capitals needed to improve in net. 

“Inexperienced goalies need to learn how to be consistent, I think,” Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan said last year. “I think it’s an educational process. How do you come every day and give you the same performance? I think guys that haven’t played a lot have to learn how to figure it out, and not all of them do and some of them do. “

This postseason, Samsonov and Vanecek are still trying to figure it out.