Leafs ride 'hungry' Woll into career-high start against Lightning
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Joseph Woll is set to make his 24th start of the season on Monday, which will mark a new career high for the Leafs goaltender.
"He feels like he's in a good spot," said head coach Craig Berube. "We've just got to manage it here and manage the practice with him, too. He's a hard-working guy, and he puts a lot into his game with preparation and practice and all that. And sometimes you've got to pull those guys back a little bit. We need him in the games."
Even more so now with Anthony Stolarz sidelined following a knee procedure. He skated again on Monday morning on his own and still hasn't joined practice yet. Dennis Hildeby, who has five NHL games under his belt, is the current back-up goalie.
So, Woll will be playing for the fourth time in seven days on Monday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning. You can understand why the Leafs want to roll with Woll. Despite allowing three goals in the first period, Woll was excellent on Saturday night in Montreal and gave the Leafs a chance to mount a comeback against the Canadiens.
"That said a lot about him as a person, as a goalie, the way he responded and shut the door," defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson told reporters following the 7-3 win.
Woll shared a net at the Leafs morning skate, which allowed him to skip some drills.
"They kinda get treated like quarterbacks here," winger Mitch Marner said of the team's goaltenders. "Just get a little more rest ... They take care of themselves well."
Woll started the season on the injured reserve with groin tightness. Injuries have plagued the 26-year-old during his young career, but the team believes that's more about a string of bad luck than anything else.
"He's ready for that next shot," said defenceman Jake McCabe. "He's ready for that next opportunity. He's just hungry. He's always doing the right things in the gym. He's taking care of himself. I love everything about Woller's game. Our goaltenders have been carrying us a lot this year."
Woll's save percentage this season (.907) is the same as last year when he started 23 games and got into 25 overall.
"He's pretty determined off the ice just to keep himself healthy and keep his performance as high as he can," said winger Matthew Knies.
Woll is 4-1-0 against the Lightning with a .931 save percentage.
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The first-place Leafs have won both previous games against the third-place Lightning this season. Toronto leads Tampa Bay by seven points in the Atlantic Division standings although the Lightning have played three fewer games.
Monday's showdown could swing the momentum in the divisional race.
"It's one of those games that says where are we at," said Lightning coach Jon Cooper. "We go down 0-3 to Toronto, to me, that is not where we want to be ... I'd be really disappointed if we don't come out strong here."
And yet the Lightning will be starting Jonas Johansson instead of Andrei Vasilevskiy.
"Well, it's time," Cooper explained. "Everybody reads a ton into this saying, 'Oh!' It’s all about managing the goaltenders. We manage for 82 not one or two and so it's just the way the rotation goes and JJ falls in line tonight."
The Lightning will also play in Montreal on Tuesday night.
Johansson has a .903 save percentage in 10 games this season. He stopped 31 of 33 shots to pick up a win in Pittsburgh in his last start on Jan. 12.
Vasilevskiy, who picked up a win on Saturday, has a .916 save percentage in 35 games. He has been beaten eight times by the Leafs in two games this season. Vasilevskiy was actually pulled by Cooper during a loss in Toronto back in October.
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The Leafs are changing all three defence pairs on Monday. McCabe, a lefty, will shift to the right side and play with Morgan Rielly.
"When I play my off side it's just a little more scanning and making sure I know what's coming behind me before I get the puck and making good puck decisions and communicating," McCabe said. "It's nothing too crazy. I've played enough on my right side now."
McCabe played his off side during much of last season while being paired with Simon Benoit. He has formed a reliable shutdown pair with Chris Tanev for much of this season. Tanev will now play with Ekman-Larsson, who picked up three points and the player-of-the-game belt on Saturday.
"When McCabe was out, OEL was playing with Tanev, they were good together," Berube said. "They like playing together. And McCabe played on the right side last year quite a bit ...Morgan's had a lot of partners this year and it's not his fault or anybody's fault. It's just how things go with injuries and finding the right-shot guy to play over there."
Philippe Myers, a righty, had been playing with Rielly, but he was on the ice for two Montreal goals in the first period on Saturday before being benched. Benoit, a lefty, will take Myers' spot in the lineup on Saturday. He will slot in beside Conor Timmins on the third pair.
Rielly played just 16 minutes and 27 seconds on Saturday, which was a season low. He picked up an assist, but remains on pace for just 37 points. The longest-serving Leaf racked up 58 points in 72 games last season.
"We've asked him to [have] less risk in his game and he's trying to do that and he's done that for the most part," Berube said. "But we also need him to produce offensively. [We're] trying to get our D a little bit more active. It's been better with our D getting more active in the offensive zone, shooting more pucks, getting more pucks at the net. That's been a focus lately and it's been better. I think you'll see his production go up a little bit."
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Moving away from the Tanev and McCabe pairing is a risky move considering how good Tampa's top line – Brayden Point between Jake Guentzel and Nikita Kucherov – has been. Kucherov arrives in Toronto on an eight-game point streak and hit the 600-assist mark during Saturday's 5-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings.
Kucherov's post-game media session lasted just 27 seconds on Saturday. What did the milestone mean to him?
"Cool," he said, looking annoyed.
"He doesn't try to impress media," Lightning forward Nick Paul said. "He doesn't try to impress the fans. He does his own thing. He doesn't really care and I think that's why he's so good. He doesn't really care about the outside. He cares about winning. He cares about the team and he cares about the boys in here."
Kucherov doesn't mind the villain role. He seemed to enjoy being booed by fans in Toronto during last year's All-Star Game.
Perhaps it's no surprise then that Kucherov leads all players in points on the road (40 in 22 games) this season. With two assists against Toronto on Monday, Kucherov would become the fastest player since Mario Lemieux in 1992-93 to record 30 road assists in a campaign.
"You can't take a shift off, really," said Marner. "He's a guy that makes a lot of plays happen that you don't think are there and that's something you can appreciate as a fan and a player."
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Max Pacioretty is out with what the team is calling an "upper-body injury." The veteran winger took a puck to the face during Saturday's game in Montreal.
In Pacioretty's absence, 20-year-old rookie Fraser Minten will draw into the Leafs lineup and slot in as the third-line centre between Max Domi and Nick Robertson.
"He brings a lot of speed, a lot of skill," Marner said. "His IQ out there on the ice is very high. He reads the play very well. He's in the right spot a lot of times. He's very reliable for our D to help break out pucks."
Minten has played 11 games with the Leafs this season with the last one coming on Dec. 14.
"I got trust in him," Berube said.
Toronto will also make a change on the fourth line with Connor Dewar replacing Ryan Reaves.
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The Leafs fell behind 3-0 on Saturday night in Montreal and every player who spoke to reporters after the game lamented a poor start. Except for William Nylander.
"I think we didn't start too bad," the winger insisted during his meeting with the media. "Like, we had some chances, but they capitalized on their chances."
Nylander stands out for his play and his personality. Just last week, the smooth-skating Swede wondered why there seemed to be some concern in Toronto about the team's three game losing streak.
"It's only been three games," he said. "So, what's the big deal, really?"
Nylander scored twice in Thursday's comeback win over the New Jersey Devils and scored the tying goal during Saturday's surge in Montreal.
"Just relax and get back to our game," he said of the discussion after the first period. "What are you going to do? It's 3-0."
Prior to the last two games, Nylander had scored just once in 11 games.
"You'd like to get that game he had in Montreal every night, but that's not reality," Berube said. "But he has the capability of doing it. This guys' edge work and his puck play and competing on pucks offensively is high end. He's a very good player. It's always a challenge to try to get these guys to be more consistent every night. That's a coach's job. And it's not just Willy, it's every player. I try to have conversations with him daily. I really do. I'm not trying to figure him out. I'm trying to hear him out more than anything."
Berube was asked how he manages his relationship with the team's leading goal scorer.
"That's a tough question," he admitted. "A lot of conversations with Willy, which I enjoy. A great guy to talk to and listen to him. And, you know, I think more than anything, it's like I always want Willy to open up to me and tell me what he's feeling and what he thinks about the game and what we can do better and things like that. He's got a lot of great ideas. Now, I may not agree with them all, but I want to hear them. Because there's something there that I might learn. These guys are smart guys and smart players."
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The Lightning scratched Point for a key divisional game last week in Boston because the top-line centre missed a meeting. Cooper was asked about his approach to holding top players accountable.
"You know why they're superstars is because they get it," Cooper said. "If they aren't held accountable then who else is going to be?"
The Lightning lost to the Bruins 6-2, but responded with wins in their next two games.
"What gets underestimated in those situations, it's not the actual player at times that feels it," Cooper continued. "It's the rest of the team and you're actually coaching the team and not just one player."
Cooper is in his 13th season in Tampa where he's twice led the franchise to a Stanley Cup title.
"I think Coop is very good at the mental side of things with his players," Berube said. "He does a real good job of keeping everybody motivated. Not changing his style year to year, but just tweaking a little bit and giving them a little bit more life and a little bit something new ... He's got good relationships with everybody over there, and that's really important because that's how you last a lot longer. But he's there because he's successful every year. That's why he's there, to be honest with you. I think that's what it boils down to for the most part."
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Leafs lines at Monday's skate:
Knies - Matthews - Marner
McMann - Holmberg - Nylander
Domi - Minten - Robertson
Dewar - Kampf - Lorentz
Reaves
Rielly - McCabe
Ekman-Larsson - Tanev
Benoit - Timmins
Hakanpää, Myers
Woll starts
Hildeby
Lightning lines at Monday's skate:
Guentzel - Point - Kucherov
Hagel - Cirelli - Paul
Girgensons - Geekie - Chaffee
Eyssimont - Glendening - Atkinson
Hedman - Raddysh
McDonagh - Crozier
Lilleberg - Perbix
Moser
Johansson starts
Vasilevskiy