NHL PLAYOFFS – Neophyte Joseph Woll revives Toronto

Playoffs – 2nd round

Florida Panthers–Toronto Maple Leafs: 1-2

FLA goal: Reinhart
TOR Goals: Nylander, Marner

Joseph Woll made 24 saves in his first career playoff start and Mitchell Marner (1-1-2) contributed to both Maple Leafs goals to help Toronto force a Game 5 and ensure there was no sweep in the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs of 2023. It was the third consecutive meeting between the two clubs decided by a one-goal margin.

• Woll became the 11th Maple Leafs rookie goaltender to earn a playoff victory and the first since Felix Potvin in Game 5 of the 1993 Conference Finals. He was 6-1 in his seven games with the Maple Leafs during the 2022/23 regular season – including six straight wins to end the campaign – and a 16-4-1 record with the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League (AHL).
• Prior to Wednesday, Woll’s last taste of the playoffs as a starter was on March 23, 2019, with the Boston College Eagles in the Hockey East Championship Game, a 3-2 loss to the Huskies. from Northeastern. A day earlier, Woll had shut out the River Hawks of UMass Lowell – whose team included the eventual Norris Trophy, Conn Smythe Trophy and Stanley Cup winner, Hold Makar — to earn what was his most recent playoff victory.
• Marner improved his postseason total to 3-11-14 (10 games) and now has the third-most assists by a Maple Leafs skater in the first ten games of a season, behind Darryl Sittler (16 in 1977) and Doug Gilmour (15 in 1994). Note that Sittler only played nine playoff games in 1977. In the past 25 years, three Maple Leafs players have recorded that many points in a playoff year: Gary Roberts (19 in 2002), Mats Sundin (16 in 1999) and Alyn McCauley (15 in 2002).
• Toronto improved the overall away team record to 39-26 this season and ensured that each series of the first two rounds of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs will consist of at least five games.