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

TORONTO — He finished 0.1 seconds away from a perfect game, from a season-saving shutout that would’ve put him front and centre amid the chaos of this night, this series-levelling, curse-breaking, Game-7-forcing Toronto Maple Leafs win. 

But in truth, this is exactly where Joseph Woll thrives — quietly, stoically, in the background. 

For a hockey club brimming with highlight-reel flash, with all-world skill, Woll is everything else — the calm, collected backbone of these surging, surviving Maple Leafs. Thursday night, under the Scotiabank Arena lights, he proved it yet again. 

“We got a glimpse of it last year, and he’s got an opportunity again here this year. He’s obviously showing the type of netminder he is,” captain John Tavares said of Woll late Thursday night, after his club managed to grind out a 2-1 win to keep its playoff run alive. 

“The talent’s one thing, but the determination, the belief in himself — he’s just enjoying the moment, trying to thrive with it. And he was obviously exceptional for us tonight.”

It’s been a white-knuckle run for young Woll in the post-season so far. No other goalie in NHL history has seen their first four playoff starts all come in elimination games. After his pair against Florida last season, the 25-year-old was thrown into the fire again this year, called on five games into a tightly-contested, no-nonsense battle against the Boston Bruins and decades of playoff ghosts.

And through two appearances opposite these Bruins, Woll has been near flawless.

“He hasn’t made any mistakes. Because of that, we’ve stayed in games,” said head coach Sheldon Keefe simply from the bowels of Scotiabank Arena Thursday. “There’s nothing that’s gone in that shouldn’t have. So it’s given the group confidence. You need that right now. Tonight, it’s such a tight game, it’s such a tight game in Game 5, you’re facing elimination — if you make some mistakes, it’s curtains. 

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

For the first 20 minutes of this Game 6 table-turner, though, there was little asked of Woll. The crew in front of him came out of the gates flying, throwing bodies at pucks, at black-and-gold jerseys, at any and everything. It was an unrecognizable team from the one that last took the Scotiabank Arena ice, in Game 4.

Where the Maple Leafs previously fell back, this time they trudged forward. Where they rushed passes and missed chances, this time they looked poised, methodical. Where they overwhelmed, this time they did the overwhelming. The numbers bore that out through the opening frame of this tilt, the Bruins managing just one shot on Woll in the opening period Thursday, the home side in double digits.

“Two shots in the first period in the first game that he played, one shot here tonight — the guys are also competing for him, giving him every opportunity to find his way in the series,” Keefe said of his club’s stout starts in Games 5 and 6. “And he’s rewarding them. When there are breakdowns, he’s been great.”

Still, it’s not necessarily the way most netminders would draw up the opening period of a do-or-die game.

“Goalies like to touch the puck, they like to feel the puck, they like to look up and see the shot clock, see it’s growing, that their efforts are being rewarded statistically,” Keefe continued. “Once (Boston) started to get their push, like we knew they would — in that second period, there was a lot of stuff starting to get to him, pucks getting to him, we left some guys alone at the net — he looked extremely solid and confident.”

Look only at the totals, 22 saves on 23 shots, and you could overlook the importance of Woll’s steadiness when that inevitable Bruins push did come. But rewind the tape, and you can see the seeds of moments that have haunted these Maple Leafs in years past — Boston with a strong push early in the second period, threatening to nullify Toronto’s responsible start; Boston pushing with chance after chance midway through the game, just minutes before William Nylander drew first blood; Boston coming out hard in the third, looking to tie it up early and pull the rug out from under the home crowd’s feet.

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

“It’s not a perfect game, and when we made mistakes, Woll was incredible,” Keefe said. “All that comes together, and you find a way to win a tight game.”

“It’s not easy to step into a playoff series,” added teammate Tyler Bertuzzi. “He’s done an amazing job. He was big for us last game, and tonight especially, saving us when we weren’t there for him.”

Zoom out on this Maple Leafs team, on this rollercoaster series — now moving back to Boston for a winner-take-all, each team level at three wins apiece — and it’s hard to pinpoint how exactly they got to this point. One week ago, they looked every bit done and dusted, their hometown abuzz with talk of trades, firings, ends of eras. But Keefe’s Leafs have somehow come to life.

They’ve done it without talisman Auston Matthews, with the rest of their core looking far from perfect, with their backs to the wall against a team that’s looked more experienced, more lethal, more responsible. The difference, in their eyes, has just been pure force of will.

“The guys have competed and worked incredibly hard. They’ve pulled together. They’ve fought, you know?” said their head coach post-game. “They didn’t lay down, they didn’t accept their fate. They changed it.”

“We came in with the mentality that we have nothing to lose, and we’re going to fight back,” said young Matthew Knies, who’s been centre stage in this late-series revival. “We’re playing structured. Every time we had a chance to get it out, we got it out past the blue line. We’ve been blocking shots, being key in front of Woller, not letting anyone take his eyes.”

“It’s tight out there,” added Tavares. “There’s not much room. They defend extremely well, make it difficult. We’re trying to make it difficult. Trying to establish territory in our game, earning opportunities. You know, it’s just the investment you’re making, shift after shift, play after play. It’s something you want to keep going.”

There’s no question that the presence of Woll behind them has been a key piece of this turnaround. No Matthews to lead up front, more required from everyone throughout the lineup, and the immovable Woll holding down the fort — it’s been something of a perfect storm for a group that’s been found coasting in similar situations before.

“It was awesome to see in front of me,” Woll said of his teammates’ desperate defensive play Thursday night. “It gives me a lot of confidence back there when our group is playing like that the past couple games. Guys are laying out, blocking shots, coming up big in those moments.”

In the end, the near-flawless game was spoiled some, Boston’s Morgan Geekie undoing Woll’s shutout attempt in the final second of the tilt, burying a puck that bounced to him near the netfront in the game’s final scramble.

But unflappable as he is, the netminder made clear when all was said and done that he wasn’t sweating the goose-egg being swiped.

“For my mindset, it’s about the win. That’s the most important thing right now. That’s where my head’s at,” Woll said simply when asked about his near-shutout. “I wasn’t even sure of the timing, what happened — I was just happy when I saw the guys coming towards me and giving me fist bumps for winning the game.”

As the Maple Leafs look ahead to the test that now waits for them down the road — a Saturday night tilt at TD Garden, with their playoff lives on the line once more — Woll figures to be a key piece, yet again, of wherever this all goes. 

Not simply because he’s given them what they’ve long craved in the cage, but because of the impact that’s had. The ripple effect of that steady, immovable presence, standing stoic in the cage.

“This is Joe’s opportunity now,” Keefe said of the effect No. 60 is having on this team. “When goaltending performs like that in games where the margins are so thin, it makes a huge difference. The series and games have been so tight, in a lot of ways because of the goaltending in the other end. It’s been hard for us to get offence and finish our chances and get the puck over the line. You know, their goalie’s been really good.

“Woll’s come in and matched that.”