The Leafs can’t stay healthy in net
It seems the news can never just be all good for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Despite beating the Carolina Hurricanes 5-1 on Thursday for their third straight regulation win, the Leafs suffered the loss of goaltender Joseph Woll, who left the game after the second period with a lower-body injury.
A lot of things have been better for Toronto during their recent uptick in play, but perhaps none have been more important than their improved goaltending, particularly the performance of Woll. Since returning to the team from a leave of absence, Woll has put up a .923 save percentage and a 2.44 goals-against average in eight starts. The Leafs certainly hope Woll’s injury isn’t too serious, as they are still without Anthony Stolarz, who formed a potent goalie tandem with Woll last season. If Woll has to miss significant time, the Leafs’ crease duties will fall heavily on the relatively inexperienced Dennis Hildeby, who has filled in admirably when called upon.
On Friday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed Toronto’s poor injury luck in net, and whether they’d survive without Woll for an extended period.
Tyler Yaremchuk: If this is serious for Joseph Woll, as much as this week has saved their season, if you’ve got to go two or three weeks without Stolarz or Woll, you could be hooped.
Carter Hutton: I think that was the dynamic they were missing earlier, is the fact of not having both of them. I think Anthony Stolarz is a great goalie, but then all of a sudden Woll’s out to start the year and now you have the keys to the castle. It’s always a different standpoint when you don’t have that security blanket of another high-end NHL guy with you to platoon your starts together. For Joseph Woll, obviously concerning. This is a guy that’s been hurt a ton in his career. He’s had a bunch of different injuries. Anthony Stolarz, the last we’ve heard is he’s had a setback, so that is concerning as well. Now all of a sudden you’re going to have the Hildebeast in there, giving his all. I just don’t know where this team is at.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…