The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 in Denver on Wednesday night. The win moved Toronto into a tie at the top of the Atlantic Division. After the win, Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube and some players praised goalie Joseph Woll for his incredible performance. The Score’s Sean O’Leary spoke with the players and coaches after the game.
“He was excellent,” Berube said of Woll. “Made some real good saves, held us in there in the first period. … The last three games, he’s been really good.”
Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews said, “He approaches things the same every night, and he’s extremely focused. Tonight, he was excellent for us. He made some big saves there at the end to keep it a tie game. I just thought he was all over it tonight.”
The Maple Leafs and Panthers now have identical records through 68 games. Florida has the first tiebreaker, which is regulation wins, by two right now. Winning the division is key for any team but given Toronto’s issues in the first round, they need to pull away.
Woll and Anthony Stolarz have been excellent this season and the Maple Leafs are rolling because of it. Is the finally the year they get over the hump?
The Maple Leafs need to have playoff success
This could be the end of the era for the Maple Leafs. Mitch Marner and John Tavares are both free agents after this season and either leaving would be a stark change. This window opened when they signed Tavares in 2018 and Marner has been a huge part of it. But goaltending has been an issue throughout the era and they may have it figured out.
Woll has made the most starts this year, with 35 starts to Stolarz’s 25, but has slightly worse numbers. Woll’s .908 save percentage is bested by Stolarz’s .918 and his 2.70 goals-against average is outdone by 2.39. This is a good problem for Berube to have, as he can switch the goalies out throughout the playoffs.
Last year, the Bruins struggled to decide between Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark through their playoff run. It created a lot of drama that ended in an Ullmark trade and a lengthy Swayman contract negotiation. But Stolarz was brought in as a backup and Woll is very young. There should be no problem alternating the goalies in the playoffs.
The Maple Leafs look to take the division lead against the New York Rangers on Thursday night.
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