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The goaltending controversy in Toronto is over; there's a new 1G in town

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Ryan Smitheram
December 1, 2023 (2:51 PM)

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Once again, the Toronto Maple Leafs blew a multi-goal lead in the 3rd period and went needed extra time to come away with a 4-3 win over the Seattle Kraken last night. Were it not for the play of Joseph Woll, the Leafs would have lost the game in regulation and again in overtime, but Woll stood as tall as ever, making 37 saves in regulation and 2 straight saves in the shootout, shutting the door for the Buds.

Woll, who was making his third consecutive start, has looked absolutely fantastic recently. He is 4-1-0 in his last five starts and has seemingly taken over as the Leafs' number one goalie.

Following his 37-save performance, Woll improved to 8-5-0 on the season and has a 2.74 GAA and .917 save percentage. Following last night's game, Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe was asked what he has noticed most about Woll's improved play.

"Just confidence. He gave up the two in the third, but he was right there to make the next save. He got us through the overtime. He was great in the shootout, too. It is huge. My feelings on it don't really matter, but his teammates feel it back there. When we make a mistake, he is there. He is competing. It seems like he is growing every single start. That is an important piece for our team. To see Joseph growing like this through this process of this week � as we have started to get into more of an NHL-type rhythm � is great. Clearly, he is the backbone of getting these points of late."

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Leafs defensemen Jake McCabe and Morgan Rielly echoed Sheldon Keefe's comments.

"Woller kept us in it until overtime and made big save after big save. Composed, we have all the confidence in the world in both of them back there. Joe is just super composed, making save after save, handling the puck well too," said McCabe of Woll's play this season

"He's been outstanding. We've kind of made it tough on him. Putting extra miles on him with the overtime and the shootout and whatnot and we want to get that fixed but for him to hang in there for us and play great is awesome," said Rielly.

With another exceptional game from Woll, and the Leafs facing the Atlantic Division leading Boston Bruins on Saturday, Woll could be in line for his fourth straight start. With a day off today, we won't know until the morning skate Saturday, but Keefe would be crazy to not continue to run the hot goalie.

Previously on MapleLeafsDaily

Early scoring flurry from Auston Matthews distracting us from his current lack of production

Detroit captain Dylan Larkin shares tragic, heartbreaking news about why he was away from the team

Detroit has reportedly already had talks about potentially flipping Patrick Kane

POLL
1 DECEMBRE \| 633 ANSWERS The goaltending controversy in Toronto is over; there's a new 1G in town Would you start Woll again on Saturday against Boston?
No, he needs a break and Sammy needs a game	88	13.9 %
Yes, he's on a roll. Ride the hot hand	545	86.1 %
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