Woll proving to be the calm, collected spine of surging Maple Leafs

TORONTO — He completed 0.1 seconds away from an ideal recreation, from a season-saving shutout that might’ve put him entrance and centre amid the chaos of this night time, this series-levelling, curse-breaking, Recreation-7-forcing Toronto Maple Leafs win. 

However in reality, that is precisely the place Joseph Woll thrives — quietly, stoically, within the background. 

For a hockey membership brimming with highlight-reel flash, with all-world talent, Woll is the whole lot else — the calm, collected spine of those surging, surviving Maple Leafs. Thursday night time, underneath the Scotiabank Enviornment lights, he proved it but once more. 

“We received a glimpse of it final yr, and he’s received a chance once more right here this yr. He’s clearly displaying the kind of netminder he’s,” captain John Tavares mentioned of Woll late Thursday night time, after his membership managed to grind out a 2-1 win to maintain its playoff run alive. 

Watch Recreation 7 between Maple Leafs and Bruins on Sportsnet

All of it comes all the way down to this. The Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins will play a winner-take-all Recreation 7 on Saturday night time with an opportunity to advance within the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Watch the sport Saturday at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.

Broadcast schedule

Extra on the sequence

“The expertise’s one factor, however the dedication, the idea in himself — he’s simply having fun with the second, attempting to thrive with it. And he was clearly distinctive for us tonight.”

It’s been a white-knuckle run for younger Woll within the post-season to this point. No different goalie in NHL historical past has seen their first 4 playoff begins all are available elimination video games. After his pair towards Florida final season, the 25-year-old was thrown into the hearth once more this yr, referred to as on 5 video games right into a tightly-contested, no-nonsense battle towards the Boston Bruins and many years of playoff ghosts.

And thru two appearances reverse these Bruins, Woll has been close to flawless.

“He hasn’t made any errors. Due to that, we’ve stayed in video games,” mentioned head coach Sheldon Keefe merely from the bowels of Scotiabank Enviornment Thursday. “There’s nothing that’s gone in that shouldn’t have. So it’s given the group confidence. You want that proper now. Tonight, it’s such a decent recreation, it’s such a decent recreation in Recreation 5, you’re dealing with elimination — should you make some errors, it’s curtains. 

“He’s given the group confidence — it’s great to see.”

For the primary 20 minutes of this Recreation 6 table-turner, although, there was little requested of Woll. The crew in entrance of him got here out of the gates flying, throwing our bodies at pucks, at black-and-gold jerseys, at any and the whole lot. It was an unrecognizable staff from the one which final took the Scotiabank Enviornment ice, in Recreation 4.

The place the Maple Leafs beforehand fell again, this time they trudged ahead. The place they rushed passes and missed possibilities, this time they appeared poised, methodical. The place they overwhelmed, this time they did the overwhelming. The numbers bore that out by way of the opening body of this tilt, the Bruins managing only one shot on Woll within the opening interval Thursday, the house facet in double digits.

“Two photographs within the first interval within the first recreation that he performed, one shot right here tonight — the blokes are additionally competing for him, giving him each alternative to search out his means within the sequence,” Keefe mentioned of his membership’s stout begins in Video games 5 and 6. “And he’s rewarding them. When there are breakdowns, he’s been nice.”

Nonetheless, it’s not essentially the best way most netminders would draw up the opening interval of a do-or-die recreation.

“Goalies like to the touch the puck, they wish to really feel the puck, they wish to lookup and see the shot clock, see it’s rising, that their efforts are being rewarded statistically,” Keefe continued. “As soon as (Boston) began to get their push, like we knew they’d — in that second interval, there was plenty of stuff beginning to get to him, pucks attending to him, we left some guys alone on the web — he appeared extraordinarily stable and assured.”

Look solely on the totals, 22 saves on 23 photographs, and you might overlook the significance of Woll’s steadiness when that inevitable Bruins push did come. However rewind the tape, and you may see the seeds of moments which have haunted these Maple Leafs in years previous — Boston with a robust push early within the second interval, threatening to nullify Toronto’s accountable begin; Boston pushing with probability after probability halfway by way of the sport, simply minutes earlier than William Nylander drew first blood; Boston popping out laborious within the third, seeking to tie it up early and pull the rug out from underneath the house crowd’s toes.

Every time the Bruins pushed, there was Woll, unfazed.

“It’s not an ideal recreation, and after we made errors, Woll was unimaginable,” Keefe mentioned. “All that comes collectively, and also you discover a technique to win a decent recreation.”

“It’s not simple to step right into a playoff sequence,” added teammate Tyler Bertuzzi. “He’s performed a tremendous job. He was large for us final recreation, and tonight particularly, saving us after we weren’t there for him.”

Zoom out on this Maple Leafs staff, on this rollercoaster sequence — now shifting again to Boston for a winner-take-all, every staff stage at three wins apiece — and it’s laborious to pinpoint how precisely they received up to now. One week in the past, they appeared each bit performed and dusted, their hometown abuzz with discuss of trades, firings, ends of eras. However Keefe’s Leafs have in some way come to life.

They’ve performed it with out talisman Auston Matthews, with the remainder of their core wanting removed from excellent, with their backs to the wall towards a staff that’s appeared extra skilled, extra deadly, extra accountable. The distinction, of their eyes, has simply been pure power of will.

“The blokes have competed and labored extremely laborious. They’ve pulled collectively. They’ve fought, you understand?” mentioned their head coach post-game. “They didn’t lay down, they didn’t settle for their destiny. They modified it.”

“We got here in with the mentality that we now have nothing to lose, and we’re going to combat again,” mentioned younger Matthew Knies, who’s been centre stage on this late-series revival. “We’re taking part in structured. Each time we had an opportunity to get it out, we received it out previous the blue line. We’ve been blocking photographs, being key in entrance of Woller, not letting anybody take his eyes.”

“It’s tight on the market,” added Tavares. “There’s not a lot room. They defend extraordinarily nicely, make it troublesome. We’re attempting to make it troublesome. Making an attempt to ascertain territory in our recreation, incomes alternatives. You understand, it’s simply the funding you’re making, shift after shift, play after play. It’s one thing you wish to hold going.”

There’s no query that the presence of Woll behind them has been a key piece of this turnaround. No Matthews to guide up entrance, extra required from everybody all through the lineup, and the immovable Woll holding down the fort — it’s been one thing of an ideal storm for a bunch that’s been discovered coasting in comparable conditions earlier than.

“It was superior to see in entrance of me,” Woll mentioned of his teammates’ determined defensive play Thursday night time. “It offers me plenty of confidence again there when our group is taking part in like that the previous couple video games. Guys are laying out, blocking photographs, arising large in these moments.”

In the long run, the near-flawless recreation was spoiled some, Boston’s Morgan Geekie undoing Woll’s shutout try within the closing second of the lean, burying a puck that bounced to him close to the netfront within the recreation’s closing scramble.

However unflappable as he’s, the netminder made clear when all was mentioned and performed that he wasn’t sweating the goose-egg being swiped.

“For my mindset, it’s in regards to the win. That’s crucial factor proper now. That’s the place my head’s at,” Woll mentioned merely when requested about his near-shutout. “I wasn’t even certain of the timing, what occurred — I used to be simply pleased once I noticed the blokes coming in the direction of me and giving me fist bumps for profitable the sport.”

Because the Maple Leafs look forward to the take a look at that now waits for them down the highway — a Saturday night time tilt at TD Backyard, with their playoff lives on the road as soon as extra — Woll figures to be a key piece, but once more, of wherever this all goes. 

Watch Maple Leafs tackle Bruins in Spherical 1 on Sportsnet

For the primary time since 2019, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins will go head-to-head within the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Watch Spherical 1 between the Unique Six rivals on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.

Broadcast Schedule

Not just because he’s given them what they’ve lengthy craved within the cage, however due to the affect that’s had. The ripple impact of that regular, immovable presence, standing stoic within the cage.

“That is Joe’s alternative now,” Keefe mentioned of the impact No. 60 is having on this staff. “When goaltending performs like that in video games the place the margins are so skinny, it makes an enormous distinction. The sequence and video games have been so tight, in plenty of methods due to the goaltending within the different finish. It’s been laborious for us to get offence and end our possibilities and get the puck over the road. You understand, their goalie’s been actually good.

“Woll’s are available and matched that.”

Extra from Sportsnet

‘Unbelievable’: William Nylander leads resilient Maple Leafs to Recreation 7

‘Unacceptable’: Montgomery criticizes Bruins’ gradual begin in Recreation 6 loss

Supply hyperlink