Berube, Woll ready for 'special' return to St. Louis as Maple Leafs start road trip

Joseph Woll isn't sure how many friends and family members will be at Saturday's game in St. Louis. 

"That's a good question," the Leafs goalie said with a smile. "I need to reach out to my mom and make sure we have tickets all sorted out and stuff. It will be a nice surprise."

Woll is from the St. Louis suburb of Dardenne Prairie, and is looking forward to playing an NHL game in his hometown for the very first time. Although Craig Berube insists no final decision has been made about the starting goalie for Saturday, the Leafs coach acknowledges Woll's connection to the city is a factor. 

"We always consider those things," Berube said. "They're not the No. 1 and most important thing. We're still talking about it, but it is part of the conversation."

With Woll sidelined with groin tightness, Anthony Stolarz started the year strong. He is 4-2-1 with a .916 save percentage and picked up the win on Monday in Winnipeg. Woll stopped 24 of 25 shots to earn his first win in his second game of the season on Thursday against Seattle. The Leafs also play on Sunday in Minnesota, so both goalies will see action this weekend. 

After Friday's practice, Woll sure sounded like a guy expecting to play in St. Louis. 

Woll says mom Shelley is the person most excited about this homecoming.

"She will probably be a bit of a nervous wreck," the 26-year-old said. "She's always very, very pumped to watch but also very scared ... She and my dad were big Blues fans when they first met and obviously when I was growing up they were Blues fans so, I don't know, it might be a lot of emotion. An interesting one. I hope she does alright."

Woll lost his season debut against the Blues last week allowing four goals on 26 shots. He said it was "surreal" to face the team he grew up supporting for the first time. 

One week later, he seems to be back in a rhythm. 

"Last night I felt more comfortable in the net, so just trying to build on that and find the swing of the season."

Seattle's only goal on Thursday came late in the third period with the goalie pulled. 

"He was really steady," centre Auston Matthews said of Woll. "Obviously the last one we'd like back. I thought he played really well and deserved a shutout."

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Mattamy Homes will donate $5,000 to the the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Canada's largest mental health teaching hospital, every time Woll wins a home game this season. 

"Over the past few years I've found how important mental health is and how under-talked about it is sometimes," Woll told TSN. "I'm just really happy that we were able to partner up ... It's a place that holds a special spot in my heart so it's pretty cool."

Woll has faced plenty of injury adversity early in his career. A high ankle sprain derailed a promising season last year. When he finally got back in a groove in the playoffs, a back injury forced him to miss Game 7 against the Boston Bruins. This year, he was in line to start the season opener for the first time before the groin issue popped up. 

"Now I understand there's things you can control and there's things you can't," Woll said. "And sometimes, when you get hurt like that, you can't really control much. I know the work I put in and I'm confident in that."

What's the biggest thing he's learned about mental health that's helped him? 

"Oh man, we'd have to go and sit and grab a coffee or something," he said. "It's really hard to pinpoint one thing. Mental health, just like your physical health, is an ongoing thing and I've learned it's not necessarily one thing that makes someone mentally healthy. It's an ongoing thing that you dedicate time to. Nothing short of everything is what makes a mentally healthy person."  

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Berube, who coached the Blues to the franchise's first Stanley Cup in 2019, will be honoured on Saturday night as he returns to St. Louis for the first time since being fired last season. 

"I had a great stop there," the 58-year-old from Calahoo, Alta. said. "I have a lot of special memories there, and a lot of people I became really close with. We had success there and I worked with a lot of great players who I am very close to still. Obviously, [people] throughout the organization, too. It is a special place because of the people. They love their sports, and they really root their teams on. I had a really good time there."

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Matthews dressed up as Darth Vader at the team's Halloween party this week. The big Star Wars fan seemed to have the force on his side during Thursday's game as he made a couple high-IQ plays to help the Leafs secure the win.  

With 8.1 seconds left in the first period, the Leafs had a faceoff in the Kraken end. Matthews quickly called over linemates Mitch Marner and Matthew Knies.

"The plan was to go forward with the puck and see what we could make happen," said Matthews. 

Matthews had noticed a pattern with how Kraken centre Chandler Stephenson was taking faceoffs. 

"He was drawing to the inside," the Arizona native observed. 

Matthews tapped the puck past Stephenson and made a pass to Marner in the slot. Marner made a nice play to Knies, who shot the puck into an open net. 

"Auston kind of called it and luckily it worked out," Marner said. 

Suddenly the Leafs had momentum heading to the dressing room. 

"They ran a couple faceoff [plays] and saw something," Berube said. "He thought he could push it ahead. Just special players."

Matthews' hockey sense is evident in all areas of the game. 

"It's very high for sure - not only offensively, but defensively," Berube highlighted. "He's always in good position as the low forward in your end and doing all the right things."

Berube is rewarding Matthews, a Selke Trophy nominee last season, by playing him on the top penalty-kill unit with Marner. 

"It's the 200-foot game that's really where it's been fun to watch him grow, especially on the penalty kill," said Marner. "Just through his stick position, his positioning."

This is the time first time Matthews has been given a prominent role on the penalty kill in his career.

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Knies is also showing off his smarts this season. 

"It's not always, I don't think, the easiest to play with Auston and I," Marner said. "Sometimes we go in weird spots that we know where each other are, but some guys can't really figure it out. Knies has done an unbelievable job of that this year."

At 6-foot-3, 227 pounds, Knies has the size to create space, but he also seems to have the timing down and knows when and where to position himself. 

"Myself and Mitchy are working the puck around and stuff, and he's finding really good spots and he's capitalizing on some of these opportunities," Matthews said. "He's a beast. He's easy to play. We know where he's going to be. He's in good spots all the time."

It's easy to forget that Knies, who just turned 22, is the youngest player on the team. 

"He just understands what type of player he is," said Berube. "And he's doing it shift to shift, in my opinion."

Knies has scored in three straight games and already has six goals on the season. He scored 15 times in 80 games as a rookie. 

Last year, Knies averaged 13 minutes and 41 seconds of ice time per game. This year, he's averaging 17 minutes and 20 seconds, and isn't showing any signs of slowing down. 

"He's done a great job getting up ice," Marner noted, "disturbing plays, disturbing puck battles, finding ways to get us the puck in open areas."

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Matthews capped the game with one of the nicer empty-net goals you'll see. 

After the Leafs won a puck battle just inside their blue line, Matthews carried the puck toward the neutral zone. Oliver Bjorkstrand denied him a straight shot at the vacated Kraken cage while Jordan Eberle hounded him from behind. So, Matthews banked the puck off the boards in the neutral zone and watched it glide into the empty cage. 

"He told me he aced geometry," said Knies with a grin. 

"I'm just happy it went in," said Marner, who did some heavy lifting to win the puck battle. "I wanted to get off the ice."

Instead of an icing call with an exhausted group on the ice, it was game over.

"Just hope and pray," Matthews said of his mindset. "I guess just try to find the right angle and I was fortunate that it went in."

It looked like a brilliant billiards shot. 

"I'm not a pool player," Matthews said with a smile. "Very bad, actually. One of my worst sports." 

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William Nylander celebrated his second goal on Thursday night by raising his glove to his mouth. 

"It just came out of nowhere, to be honest," the winger said of the 'shhhh' celebration. "I think I did it earlier this year too for some reason. I've never done it in my life before, so I don't know."

Perhaps it was a subconscious move by the 28-year-old who created a lot of noise in the market prior to the game by going public about his desire to get more playing time. 

"He's always pushing to be better and obviously wants to be a key contributor in all areas," said centre John Tavares. "He's grown a lot and become a big leader for us in a lot of different ways."

Nylander leads the Leafs in goals with eight, and is tied with Marner for the scoring lead with 12 points.  

"I don't have a problem with his game," Berube said. "Ice time is ice time. I try to use my bench as best I can. I think everybody is important. I try to manage the bench that way. People have roles. I use them in those roles."

"We talked about it," Nylander said. "I mean, it's no big deal. It's just conversations to have. It is what it is." 

Nylander played 17 minutes and 34 seconds on Thursday, which dropped his season average to 17 minutes and 58 seconds. He averaged 19 minutes and 55 seconds of ice time per game last year when he produced a career-high 98 points. 

Nylander averaged one minute of shorthanded ice time a game last year, but isn't part of the penalty-kill rotation so far this season. Any chance he gets a look in that role later in the year? 

"He hasn't had a lot of time to work on it, to be honest with you," Berube told TSN. "We've kind of had our guys in their roles for penalty killing and we've stuck with that for now, but there's always an opportunity." 

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Nylander was bumped off the top power-play unit this week. 

With the Leafs off to a 3/30 start to the season, Berube split up the core four forwards heading into Monday's game in Winnipeg. Tavares and Nylander are now part of the second unit with Knies and Max Pacioretty joining the top group. 

"It's about results in the end," Berube said. "I think we got two pretty good units right now and that's the way we gotta go forward here, and whoever's doing the job will get an opportunity."

The Leafs got two power plays against the Kraken and the Tavares-Nylander unit was sent out first for the second one. The Matthews line was a bit tired and the Tavares unit was buzzing. 

"They were having a good game, you know, scored a couple of goals," said Berube. "They've made some plays. They had opportunities. So they're having a good game and they deserve to go out there."

Toronto failed to convert on the four power plays so far this week, but there does seem to be progress. 

"It seems like it's flowing much better with the two units," Matthews agreed. "You know, good opportunities. I think the puck's getting moved around well. It's just a matter of time. You see one go in and get the confidence back and take it from there." 

The Leafs only worked on 5-on-3 and 4-on-3 formations at Friday's practice. 

"We don't practice them, for the most part, and I thought it was a good day for it," Berube explained. "We played a game last night, and we have back-to-backs coming up. We didn't want to keep the guys out there too long running them through a regular power play and penalty kill practice. I wanted to work on the 5-on-3 and 4-on-3. You don't get a lot of them, right? We try to work on them when we can and stay sharp."

The Leafs are converting on only 8.8 per cent of their chances so far, which ranked 31st overall entering Friday's games. 

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There were no hockey-themed costumes this Halloween in the Tavares household.

"We had a firefighter and a police officer today and my daughter was a unicorn, so far from it," Tavares said with a smile. "I think they were more excited about that than the game."

Well, hopefully they caught the highlights, because dad is heating up. Tavares tricked the Kraken and treated Nylander to an easy goal on Thursday night. His no-look pass in the second period set up Nylander's second goal.  

"It was a little bit of a guess," he admitted. "As the play's developing you kind of get into that spot, you kind of have an idea of where guys might be, and you just try and put the puck in a good spot ... The way the play developed I thought he or [Pacioretty] would have drifted to that side and I'm happy it worked out."

It's the type of the play that happens when you have two guys who have played together a long time. 

"I think we both find each other every once in a while in an area like that," Nylander said. "It was a tremendous play by him and I was lucky to be on the receiving end of it."

After being slowed by an illness early in the season, Tavares is back in a rhythm. He has three goals and six assists during a six game point streak.  

"He just doesn't stop even though he's getting older," Nylander noted of the 34-year-old.

Tavares has five points in the last two games since being linked up with Nylander and Pacioretty on a new-look second line. 

"There's a real good familiarity with me and Willy," Tavares said. "[Max] has proven he can play at an elite, elite level and understands his game really well. He thinks the game at a high level. We've been able to play off each other really well and have a good feel for what we do, and when you get the instincts and reading off one another, it goes a long way to making plays and playing quick and creating opportunities."

It's no surprise that Tavares and Pacioretty have hit it off. They're both veteran forwards with detailed-oriented approaches. The similarities also extend on the ice. 

"I feel like if I look fast I don't know which one's which," Nylander said with a grin, "because they have black sticks, black tape and everything. So, yeah, they're very similar in their ways. They played a long time so they know what they need to do to get ready for a game." 

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The Leafs assigned defenceman Jani Hakanpää (knee) and forward Connor Dewar (shoulder) to the American Hockey League on a long-term injured reserve conditioning loan. The Marlies play the Cleveland Monsters on Saturday.

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Defenceman Matt Benning, who was acquired from the San Jose Sharks in a trade on Wednesday night, skated with the team for the first time on Friday. 

"He is a right-handed [defenceman], which is hard to find," said Berube. "He looked good out there today. He moved well. He plays a hard game and blocks a lot of shots." 

Benning projects to be a healthy scratch in St. Louis on Saturday.

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Lines at Friday's practice: 

Knies - Matthews - Marner
Pacioretty - Tavares - Nylander
McMann - Domi - Holmberg/Robertson 
Lorentz - Kampf - Reaves 

Rielly - Ekman-Larsson 
McCabe - Tanev
Benoit - Timmins 
Myers - Benning 

Woll 
Stolarz 

Power play units at Friday's practice: 

5-on-3 
Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Tavares, Domi 

4-on-3 
Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Tavares