Leafs Confirm Starting Goalie Against Bruins, Which Leads to Speculation Over Sunday's Starter
The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced tonight's starting goaltender against the Boston Bruins, which gives way to much speculation over Sunday's starter.
The Maple Leafs are coming off of consecutive wins against the New York Islanders on December 31st and January 2nd, with Joseph Woll having played extremely well in both victories, surrendering just one goal in each outing.
With Woll on a roll right now, it was no surprise to see him in the home net at practice on Saturday morning. It was even less surprising to hear Craig Berube confirm him as the starter against the Bruins tonight.
While we know that Woll will take on the Bruins on Saturday, there's a lot of uncertainly as to what that means for Sunday's matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Currently, Dennis Hildeby is playing the backup role for Joseph Woll, but as we've seen in recent weeks, the Leafs could opt to return Hildeby to the Marlies on Sunday and recall veteran Matt Murray and have him make his 3rd start of the season.
Murray has not played his best hockey during his two starts with the Leafs, but that was to be expected after 628 days between NHL games prior to his initial recall. He also picked up a win over the Sabres in his season debut.
Murray has played very well with the Marlies, so his injury issues do appear to be a thing of the past after having both of his hips surgically repaired in 2023. Additional NHL experience may only help him to improve and figure out the speed of the NHL game again.
Hildeby has also had mixed reviews in his rookie season, but has a better chance of continuing to improve with each passing game, and more NHL reps may be the key to the 6'7 Swedish goaltender unlocking his full potential.
Whichever way the Leafs lean for tomorrow's start, you can argue a case that it's the right decision. Having multiple good options is never a bad thing.
With Anthony Stolarz still expected to miss about a month of action, the Leafs will likely have to rely on all 3 of Woll, Murray and Hildeby. How they choose to split the starts, though, is still very much up in the air.
