Woll no stranger to being called upon off the bench in playoffs

For the third straight spring, Joseph Woll is being called upon to come off the bench for the Toronto Maple Leafs. 

Woll entered Monday's 5-4 Game 1 victory over the Florida Panthers in place of the injured Anthony Stolarz and stopped 17 of the 20 shots he faced to secure the win. 

Stolarz, who was stretchered out of Scotiabank Arena and taken to a hospital Monday night, was ruled out of Game 2 by head coach Craig Berube on Wednesday. He remains without a timeline for return. 

As a result, Woll is in line for his first start of this postseason. 

The 26-year-old netminder was thrown into the net during the 2023 playoffs with just 11 games of NHL experience to his name when Ilya Samsonov was injured in a second-round series against the Panthers. He went 1-2 over three games, posting a .915 save percentage and a 2.43 goals-against average as the Panthers eliminated the Maple Leafs in five games.

Woll was thrown into the playoff last year in Game 4 against the Boston Bruins, replacing the struggling Ilya Samsonov. He stopped all five shots in a relief effort in that game before bringing the Leafs back into the series with wins in Games 5 and 6. He had just a 0.86 GAA and a .964 save percentage over those games. Woll, however, was injured in the dying seconds of his Game 6 victory and was forced to miss Game 7, which the Maple Leafs lost in overtime. 
 

Brought in under surprising circumstances on Monday, Woll struggled compared to his career playoff marks, recording a .850 save percentage. 

“You go from kind of chilling to being in the front line of action,” Woll said after the game. “I’ve been trying to do my best and stay prepared and be ready for moments like this.”

Woll appeared in more games (42) than Stolarz (34) during the regular season, finishing with a 27-14-1 record with a .909 save percentage and a 2.73 GAA. He was leaned on heavily when Stolarz suffered a knee injury in December, going 12-7-0 with a .904 save percentage in the window before Stolarz returned. 

"Played a lot of good games, a lot of good hockey for us this year," Head coach Craig Berube said of Woll Tuesday. "Stolie, he was out for, what, two months? I don't know. Can't remember the timeline, but he was in there holding the fort for us. We've got a ton of faith in him."

"Joe's awesome," defenceman Brandon Carlo added. "I feel like we've got some great riches here with having two goalies as good as they are. His poise in the net behind us has been a great thing. And, as a defensive guy, I love playing in front of both of them. So I think Joe can definitely handle anything that's thrown at him."

On Wednesday, Woll will look to backstop the Maple Leafs to their first 2-0 second-round lead since 1987. The Maple Leafs took the first two games on the road against the Detroit Red Wings in that series, but eventually lost in Game 7.