Quoting: CMcAvoy73
Keeping the puck out of the net is a big thing.
Well if you go back and watch many of his games you'll see a lot of this stuff is not his fault. In the last home game, which is a perfect example, he's screened on 2 of the 4 goals, once by Fehervary and once by Parise (because John Carlson may be the weakest defenseman in front of the net that the world has ever seen). Another goal was due to a strange pinball play off of Van Riemsdyk's stick, and the last one, while partially his fault, is more on the utter lack of communication by Orlov going behind the net (it was not obvious to anyone watching from home, you had to be in the arena to know Orlov wasn't communicating at all the entire play.
Also if you look some games he was pulled from, take the Edmonton game where he was pulled after the first period. It's another game where the dude gets left out to dry by defense, which happened most of the year. Those three goals were from a lack of defense on the 1st goal, when its sent to the front and Kuznetsov and Wilson covering back can't break up the pass, the second goal is on yet another screen by his own defense, and the third while again, partially on him, is also on the defenseman for dropping for no reason and allowing the best player in hockey to take all the time in the world.
(I could go back and find more examples, but these two games I remember vividly due to being at both of them)
Yes, Samsonov looks strange at times. The ways he makes some saves are unorthodox, but he is regularly in position and is rarely beat when the defense is at all competent. Unfortunately, only one pairing has truly been consistent. Orlov-Jensen has been by far the most consistent pairing of the year, with Fehervary-Carlson lacking any effort from Carlson most of the time, and the same goes with Schultz on the TVR-Schultz pairing. The Capitals fanbase as a whole are some of the hardest fans on goalies (mostly due to the fanbase being spoiled by elite goaltending for the last 10 years and then before that with Ollie the Goalie), and Vanecek and Samsonov have gotten their fair share of criticism and then some, but I don't think people are looking enough into how many of these games have been on defensive eff ups.