Leafs laud Woll's effort vs. Avalanche: 'His resilience is huge'

The Toronto Maple Leafs showered goaltender Joseph Woll with praise after his 38-save performance in Wednesday's important win over the Colorado Avalanche.

"He was excellent," head coach Craig Berube said. "Made some real good saves, held us in there in the first period. ... The last three games, he's been really good."

The Avalanche outchanced the Maple Leafs 32-23 at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick, but Woll shut the door in the third period as Colorado pushed for an equalizer.

"His resilience is huge," forward Steven Lorentz said. "He probably saw seven or eight minutes of their top six in the last 10 (minutes), and he just stood on his head. He looked calm and cool in the net, he kept pucks in front of him, (and) he wasn't trying to make spectacular, flashy saves. He did a great job."

Captain Auston Matthews added: "He approaches things the same every night, and he's extremely focused. Tonight, he was excellent for us. He made some big saves there at the end to keep it a tie game. I just thought he was all over it tonight."

Woll has won his last three appearances, helping the Leafs move into a tie with the Florida Panthers atop the Atlantic Division with 14 games remaining. He's outplayed partner Anthony Stolarz recently, and Berube noted it's unclear who will get the crease come playoff time.

Stolarz has better stats in fewer starts on the season but has a .902 save percentage in nine appearances since returning from a knee injury in February.

Woll won Games 5 and 6 in Toronto's first-round playoff series last campaign but was injured for the club's Game 7 loss. Stolarz has one career playoff showing, a relief appearance in Game 4 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final.