Matthew Knies may have scored 2 goals to force OT, but he wasn't the team's 1 star against Tampa
After trailing for the majority of the game last night in Tampa, the Leafs pulled off a thrilling come-from-behind victory in overtime, taking the game 4-3 and giving the Lightning another taste of what happened in the playoffs.
There were a lot of negatives for the Leafs early in the game. Blown coverage, penalty issues and poor goaltending were a few of them, but when Matthew Knies scored these two epic goals, thanks to sensational cross-ice feeds from Max Domi, most all of the early lapses were t least temporarily forgotten.
Many may look at the Domi/Knies hook ups as the catalyst for a huge Leafs win, but the truth of the matter is that Joseph Woll was the one who stepped in and stonewalled the Lightning after Ilya Samsonov had surrendered 3 goals on 4 shots to begin the game. One of his early saves on Brandon Hagel was a pretty good indicator that Woll was feeling it.
Woll's calming, steady presence and rebound control were a huge reason why the Leafs came out of Tampa with 2 points. His 29-save performance was why the team was able to come back in the first place and this save on Nikita Kucherov in the final seconds of the game may very well have been the highlight of the night.
Knies may have gotten the Leafs' championship belt from Ryan Reaves, being recognized as the player of the game, but in my opinion, that honour should have gone to Joseph Woll - and that's obviously nothing against Knies, who had a tremendous night of his own. The fact of the matter is, if Woll wasn't absolutely perfect in the game, the Leafs have no chance whatsoever.
| POLL | ||
OCTOBRE 22 | 486 ANSWERS Matthew Knies may have scored 2 goals to force OT, but he wasn't the team's 1 star against Tampa Who do you think the MVP of last night's win over Tampa was? | ||
| Max Domi | 36 | 7.4 % |
| Matthew Knies | 84 | 17.3 % |
| Joseph Woll | 340 | 70 % |
| Other | 26 | 5.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
