A saving grace in loss to ’Canes
MAPLE LEAFS Woll keeps Leafs in game with strong performance in net, but Andersen gets the win
A night after Ilya Samsonov gave the team a scare, Joseph Woll showed the Maple Leafs he’s going to be ready if needed.
Although the Leafs lost 2-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday, Woll’s performance in turning aside 41 of 43 shots, including a Jake Guentzel penalty shot, gave his tired teammates a chance.
“It was a hard-fought game on both sides, a playoff feel in this arena with the crowd into it,” Woll said. “It just came down to a goal.”
Former Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen made 31 saves and extended his winning streak to six games, tied for the fifth longest in Hurricanes/ Whalers history
Nick Robertson scored in the third period as the Leafs tried but failed to rally from an early 2-0 deficit. It was Robertson’s 10th goal of the season. Between a bad turnover and taking a needless high-sticking penalty, Robertson was having a rough night. But he did his best to make up for it, getting the Leafs’ only goal at 8:51 of the third.
“It’s definitely nice,” Robertson said. “Obviously, it gives you a little confidence, a little peace of mind, I guess. So it’s good to get that one. I got to clean up areas of my game. But that’s how it goes, you have good games, you have bad games.
“Now, for me, it’s just to learn from my mistakes and get better.”
A late Leafs power play and an extra attacker did nothing to change the outcome. The Hurricanes won all three games against the Leafs this season.
With only 12 games to go before the playoffs, Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe wasn’t too worried about losing Sunday, happy that his team was in the game right till the end.
“We played against one of the best defensive teams in the league and they really make it hard on you,” Keefe said. “We had than enough chances to score more than one. We had some chances and they didn’t go in for us, but they don’t give you much.”
Ready and waiting
Woll was the only rested Leaf. He came to North Carolina on Saturday while the rest of the team played the Oilers, winning 6-3, and flew in afterward.
“We have three goalies so it affords us some flexibility in that way,” Woll said. “It’s nice to get a good night’s sleep to be able to come in, try my best and to give our team a chance.”
Woll was spectacular. When the Leafs pressed for offence and turned over the puck, Woll was able to stop Carolina’s odd-man rushes. The 41 saves and 43 shots faced were season highs for Woll.
“It’s nice when you get to play teams that are among the best in the league,” he said.
“From my standpoint, it’s a lot of fun to be able to play in a highintensity game like that. It’s always a good experience.”
Martin Jones was the backup both nights and was pressed into service Saturday when Samsonov was shaken up and forced to leave with fewer than four minutes to go. Keefe reiterated the team’s belief that Samsonov was going to be fine.
“He’s certainly not 100 per cent, but we’re hopeful that after today and another day off tomorrow, that he’ll be in a better place and see precisely where he’s at.
“But, as I said, our initial diagnosis is that the injury itself is not anything that we would consider of concern at this point.”
Roster depth
Defencemen T.J. Brodie and Ilya Lyubushkin were back in the lineup, with Connor Timmins and Simon Benoit scratched. Brodie had been given a couple of games off as a mental reset, while Lyubushkin missed three games with an illness.
“It’s a chance for us to continue to utilize our depth, which I think is extremely important,” Keefe said. “The more injuries, illnesses and things like that we face, the more we’ve learned about the value of our depth.”
The Leafs are counting on Brodie to get back to his usual reliable self for the playoffs, hoping a break in play will help.
Unfortunately, he was on the ice for the first goal against. But it was Jake McCabe who had the rougher first period. Brodie passed the puck to McCabe behind the Leafs net, and McCabe’s casual backhand to the slot ended up on the wrong stick. Brady Skjei made it 1-0 for Carolina at 1:06.
The ice seemed tilted in Carolina’s favour, aided by three Leafs penalties. And though Woll was up to the job, the Hurricanes eventually connected again, aided unwittingly by McCabe.
Sebastian Aho’s pass attempt glanced off McCabe’s skate to fool Woll at 13:35.
Brodie ended up playing 17:06 and was a minus-1. He did make a pretty good pass to Bobby McMann in the second period that Andersen saved. Asked about Brodie’s performance, Keefe responded: “He was fine.”
Stats wrap
Auston Matthews recorded the lone assist on Robertson’s goal, his 34th assist of the season. Matthews has assists in four straight games, with three goals and seven assists in that span … The Leafs were 0-for-4 on the power play and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill.