Joseph Woll looks back to his best in Maple Leafs’ net — and just in time

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SUNRISE, Fla. — Shelley Woll stood behind two of her children — in a dark blue sweater, of course. Her eyes darted back and forth and she swayed nervously. It was Mother’s Day, and Woll tried to smile in intervals as she watched her son have one of the best games of his NHL playoff career.

But more often than not, her smile would give way to the pursed lips only a parent of a professional athlete can practice with regularity.

On the Amerant Bank Arena ice two levels down from where she stood, her son Joseph was making one of his 35 saves on the night: the second-most he’s ever made in a playoff game.

Just over a week earlier, Shelley Woll hadn’t planned on attending a Maple Leafs playoff game. At that point, Anthony Stolarz was the Leafs’ starter. Shelley would be content to watch games in her St. Louis home or during her recent vacation in Mexico.

But when Joseph took over as the starter after Stolarz’s injury, she cut her trip short. She was not going to miss her son trying to propel the Leafs in a series against the defending Stanley Cup champions — on Mother’s Day, no less.

And so while her other two children — Michael, 22, and Emma, 18 — sat close together in their seats, Shelley paced the club level of the arena.

She saw her son making her, and Leafs fans, proud.

“Well,” Shelley Woll told The Athletic, searching for the right words to describe watching her son play on Mother’s Day. “It’s breathtaking. It’s unreal to watch him compete in the Stanley Cup playoffs. As a little boy, that was his dream. To watch it become a reality and to see him play so well tonight, it’s amazing.”

Through an ugly effort from the Leafs in front of him, Woll was the lone bright spot in the Leafs’ 2-0 loss in Game 4. Were it not for Woll’s clinical performance, showing the athleticism and composure he sometimes lacked in Games 2 and 3, the final score would have reflected how poorly the Leafs played.

“(Woll) was great,” Leafs coach Craig Berube said. “He played an excellent game. There were all of those (power plays) in the first, and he was a big reason why the score was only 1-0.”

Two questions emerge from Woll’s outstanding performance.

Has he turned a corner this postseason? And can he keep it up, at least enough to give the Leafs a fighting chance in this series?

Joseph Woll’s performance in net kept the Leafs from a much worse goal differential in Game 4. (Kim Klement Neitzel / Imagn Images)

On the first one, it certainly looks like the Joseph Woll who gave the Leafs a chance against the Panthers in the playoffs in 2023 is back. And just in time, too.

As the Leafs took four (largely unnecessary) penalties in the first period, Woll stood tall. Asked about what he liked about his game, Woll deflected and refused to take credit for his play.

“As a team, the defence helped me weather the storm a couple times early in the game,” Woll said.

All the questionable plays from Game 3 seem far away after his Game 4 performance. His puck play was resolute. His positioning was elite, as he only had to stretch to make saves when the situation called for him. Woll swallowed pucks often, stopping the Panthers from building momentum. He never once looked like he lost control of the Leafs net.

It’s the kind of performance he can build on through the remainder of the series.

Woll’s mental preparation has become a hallmark of his career.  Let’s say he lets in a questionable goal over the remainder of the series; Woll can quickly come back to everything he did well in Game 4 to help himself reset. That bounce-back ability is just as much a hallmark of who he is as a Leafs goalie. He rarely got into deep enough ruts this season that the losses would add up.

And that leads to the second question. If Woll can keep playing as well as he did in Game 4, the Leafs could have a chance in what is now a best-of-3 series.

At the other end of the ice, the sleeping giant that is Sergei Bobrovsky appears to have woken up as well. He stopped all 23 shots in the shutout win, making a number of important glove saves. If Bobrovsky is inching back to his own strong form, Woll will need to go shot-for-shot with him.

Woll has gone on strong runs after losses earlier this season. He allowed three goals on just 23 shots in a 4-2 loss on Nov. 2 to the St. Louis Blues. That was just his third game after returning from an injury to start the season, and it led to questions about whether Woll was ready to return.

His next six games proved he was: Woll ripped off six wins — four against playoff teams — and allowed just 11 goals throughout.

So while we won’t know whether he’s turned a corner, his performance in Game 4 suggests he might be on the verge of a strong run of form. His turnaround, making him look like the playoff performer of 2023 and 2024, came at just the right time. Woll showed the desperation in his game that the Leafs needed to see.

The Leafs’ skaters will need to follow suit, of course. But at the very least, Woll looks capable of ensuring this series goes the distance.

“I don’t think we’ve strayed too far from our game,” Woll said. “I think we know our identity. We played pretty consistently throughout the season. I think our record and so far in the playoffs, we’ve proved that.”

After the game, Woll met up with his family. The only time he smiled postgame was when he was asked how much more he enjoyed his performance with his mother in attendance.

He hugged his mom, giving her a Mother’s Day she will never forget.

If Woll can continue to play like he did in Game 4, he might end up giving Leafs fans a series they won’t forget, either.

(Top photo: Kim Klement Neitzel / Imagn Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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