The Leafs are done playing playoff hockey and it hardly feels real this year. Leafs Nation are no strangers to disappointment. Hell, we just experienced our first 1st round win in 19 years this year. We know better than most what it's like to fall short of expectations in the playoffs.
As much as it sucks for the fans, it also sucks for the players, who put in the work all year for an opportunity to chase their Stanley Cup dreams in the spring and summer. In rookie netminder Joseph Woll's case, when he allowed Nick Cousins' game winner in OT of Game 5, he was absolutely devastated.
Woll played some incredible hockey for the Leafs this year, despite it being a very limited sample size. He stepped in at points during the regular season when called upon, brought the proper attitude with him up from the Marlies to the Leafs and quite literally helped steal a few games for the Buds. He then stepped in with no prior playoff experience and looked pretty sharp in some of the toughest games of his young career. Needless to say, when Florida punched their ticket to the 2nd round, they did so by shattering Woll's dreams. Then, to have Radko Gudas screaming directly in his face following the goal.. needless to say, he was not feeling too great about himself.
Auston Matthews was spotted consoling Woll following the game winning goal. Matthews didn't just give him a pad tap or a helmet-to-helmet tap either. He spent several minutes with Woll, consoling him and helping to lift his spirits in what was also a horrible situation for Matthews himself, who I'm sure was also feeling the same disappointment. Woll recently revealed what it was like to have Matthews share that few moments with him following the loss. He was very appreciative and complimentary of Matthews doing that. When asked what Matthews said to him, here's how Woll responded:
Matthews has known Woll from the U.S. National Team Development Program, so they're very familiar with one another. Woll is only a year younger than Matthews, but Matthews has a considerable amount of experience over what Woll does at the NHL level - especially in the playoffs. We already know that the Leafs have a very tight-knit room, but to see Matthews go out there and put his own feelings aside to help a rookie goaltender deal with his first elimination like that was very cool of #34.
