Maple Leafs Confirm Starting Goaltender Ahead of Divisional Bout Against the Lightning
The Toronto Maple Leafs have selected their starting goaltender against the Tampa Bay Lightning ahead of a very important divisional game.
After having lost 3 consecutive contests, the Toronto Maple Leafs have run up a modest 2-game winning streak on the back of two third period surges.
Down 3-2 against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night, Auston Matthews tied the game up with less than 5 minutes remaining before William Nylander iced it overtime.
Then, just a pair of nights later, they scored 5 goals in the third period as a part of a run of 7 unanswered goals to take down the Canadiens Montreal.
Ahead of tonight's divisional bout against their Atlantic Division rivals, the Tampa Bay Lighting, Craig Berube is confirmed to be rolling back to the hot hand of Joseph Woll as he earns his 4th straight start.
Woll has struggled a little of late as he's allowed 15 goals over his last 4 contests to go along with a .870 SV%. However, he played a very important role in Toronto's comeback effort against Montreal with several scintillating stops to keep his team in the game. He's clearly feeling it right now.
Overall, the 26-year-old holds a 16-8-0 record with a 2.68 GAA and a .907 SV%. Before his recent bump in the road, Woll ripped off 5 straight wins while allowing just 10 goals on 152 shots, which included key victories against the likes of Boston and Detroit.
Tonight's matchup is important for a variety of reasons, but perhaps none more so than the fact that the Lightning have 3 games in hand on the Maple Leafs and are currently 7 points back from top spot in the Atlantic Division.
A regulation win from the Maple Leafs tonight extends their lead on Tampa Bay by 9 points even with their 3 games in hand, but conversely, a Lightning win would have them within 5 points of Toronto.
Woll was in goal the last time these two teams faced off against one another at the end of November. He made 38 saves on 41 shots as the Leafs were just able to keep the Lightning's comeback efforts at bay.
Toronto jumped out to an early 4-0 lead before Tampa Bay scored 3 goals in the third period to cut the deficit back to 1. Woll played very well as he was forced to stop 15 shots in the final frame and more of the same might be needed tonight against the likes of Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point.
Expect fireworks tonight, as is generally the case when these two teams face-off, with Woll looking for his 5th career victory in 6 attempts against the Lightning.
