Evgeny Kuznetsov blasts Toronto media

The Carolina Hurricanes seized victory from the jaws of defeat on Saturday night, rebounding from what was a three goal deficit against the Toronto Maple Leafs to earn a hard-fought 5-4 shootout victory at Scotiabank Arena in downtown Toronto.

Sebastian Aho tied the game with just seconds left in regulation, deflecting the puck past goaltender Ilya Samsonov, who earned some support from his former teammate in Evgeny Kuznetsov.

Samsonov's former teammate during their days with the Washington Capitals, Kuznetsov called out the notoriously hard Toronto media for making life difficult for the Russian goaltender.

"You guys been so hard on players, in general, here over time," he said. "I'm so happy that he doesn't speak English well so he doesn't understand everything and that's huge for him ... I believe his best games are ahead of him."

Meanwhile, Samsonov stated that he simply needs to forget about the rough ending to the game on Saturday night since there is more work to be done in short order.

“It’s tough,” said Samsonov. “We don’t have time to think about this because a lot of more games are coming. We play against Philadelphia and Washington back-to-back this week (on Tuesday and Wednesday). Just forget about today and focus for the next game.”

The Toronto media is certainly notorious for putting Leafs players and the franchise itself under a microscope, with almost every aspect of their lives being magnified. Plenty of players over the years have exposed the Toronto media for this, and have openly said that it's a major reason why they would prefer not to play in that market.

Either way, Samsonov will have to continue to deal with the heavily scrutinizing Toronto media at least through the end of this season when his contract expires. Will he be back for another season?

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