Joseph Woll must have heard that it was Blackout Wednesday.
Because the man stood on his head all night long, we won’t blame him if he’s a little foggy Thursday morning.
The Toronto Maple Leafs’ No. 1 goaltender for the foreseeable future was the primary reason the troubled team’s longest — and most urgent — road trip of the season got off to a triumphant start in Columbus.
If the Eastern Conference’s surprise cellar dwellers are searching for reasons to believe that their glass is indeed half full, as head coach Craig Berube reminded his bunch before they set course for Ohio, they should start from the net out.
Woll has been stabilizing since his timely return to action in mid-November, mere days after tandem mate Anthony Stolarz vanished with an upper-body injury.
On this night, however, Woll was spectacular, outduelling a dialled-in Jet Greaves in a nail-biting 2-1 comeback overtime over the Blue Jackets and stuffing a silencer on the canon when it mattered most.
The ice tilted his way, the agile Woll made 35 saves for a .972 save percentage, was integral to a 3-for-3 penalty kill, and registered 2.62 goals saved above expected, according to MoneyPuck.com.
“Goalie was really good,” Berube told reporters. “His battle was really good in net. He fought through traffic. He was seeing everything well tonight. He looked sharp. He’s on his toes.”
Woll stood tall in the face of a shorthanded 3-on-1, stretched out his long legs to deny Grade-As, and got in the way of each one of noted Leaf killer Adam Fantilli’s seven shots.
Despite the offensive health boost Toronto received from a trio of important forwards — Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies, and Nicolas Roy — it was the Blue Jackets who generated more shots (36-24) and scoring chances (35-25) and drew first blood with a Zach Werenski short-side snipe off the rush in the third period.
(Toronto allowing the opening goal for the 15th game this season ties it for most in the NHL.)
But Woll refused to allow the next one.
“He’s been a very calming presence, is the best way I can describe it with him back there,” defenceman Jake McCabe said. “He’s done a very, very good job and been good with the puck and talking to us D-men.”
Woll bought the Maple Leafs time for rookie Easton Cowan to ecstatically tie the game in the 57th minute off a hardworking cycle from linemates John Tavares and William Nylander.
Woll made four more stops in OT before Nylander froze the clock with just 19 remaining before a shootout got forced.
Nylander’s 15th overtime winner marks a new club record (Matthews and Mats Sundin each have 14), and another two-point showing for the clutch Swede has him up to 31 on the year.
“After everything we’ve been going through, it was nice to get one. Battled back late,” Nylander told Sportsnet’s Shawn McKenzie. “Woller stood on his head. He was unreal today.”
To think: Berube mercy-pulled Woll from halfway through his last start, Saturday in Montreal, where the Canadiens stormed to a 4-0 lead.
“He was so pissed off at me for pulling him the other night,” Berube revealed. “But I like that. And he wanted to be in there and fight — and that’s good.”
Woll sure showed his appetite for the battle Wednesday, in the shadow of that dang canon.
He earned his struggling club a valuable two points and was rightly awarded the Leafs’ player-of-the-game championship belt for his efforts.
“Good to start the road trip off with a win,” Nylander said, tarps off. “Those haven’t come by so often.”
The Maple Leafs travel next to Washington, D.C., spending American Thanksgiving in the capital and gearing up for a back-to-back.
Unfortunately, they won’t be able to start Woll in both games this weekend.
Fox’s Fast Five
• Matthews addressed the hit he took from Nikita Zadorov on Nov. 11 that angered him so much, he went back at the Bruins defenceman and injured his own lower body in awkward contact.
“I mean, I’m three feet away from the boards, and he hits me in the numbers,” Matthews said. “But I know his game, and he likes to play hard. You respect that. But at the same time, maybe I could’ve put myself in a better position knowing that he’s out there (and) put myself away from getting hit like that.”
Matthews drew a penalty, topped all forwards in ice time (24:37), won 60 per cent of his draws, and ripped three shots in his return.
• Coming back from his own lower-body injury, Knies said the undisclosed ailment has been lingering for a month. Berube suggested it had initially flared up in training camp.
The power forward believes taking 11 days off from game action gave his body time to heal and that he’ll be able to manage it from here.
“Nagging things like that can affect you over time because it’s constant,” Berube noted. “It’s every day. It’s not getting better. It’s not going away. So, hopefully he’s cleared up there, and he’s 100 per cent.”
More positives on the injury front: Roy also returned to action after 11 days off, and defenceman Brandon Carlo (lower body) hit the ice for the first time in two weeks.
• The Maple Leafs improved to 6-0 when tied after two periods. (This was also the first time since March 2020 that Toronto had been involved in a game that was scoreless through two periods.)
• Critical challenge in the second period by Berube, who successfully wiped an apparent Zach Werenski goal off the board because the struggling Kent Johnson was unnecessarily offside.
Berube whiffed on his first challenge of the season (a Hail Mary goalie interference call that worsened an Oct. 22 home loss to the Devils) and resisted disputing a “tough” 50/50 goalie interference play by Brendan Gallagher in Saturday’s loss in Montreal.
Good for the Leafs to get on the right side of an important challenge for the first time this season.
• Not only did McCabe not miss a game after a puck ramped up his stick and smashed his face Saturday, the D-man logged a team-high 25:12.
“Honestly, not really that scary. That happens quite a bit,” a bruised and swollen and stitched-up McCabe said. “This one just blew up. Like, my face just blew up right away.”
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Berube appreciates a player slogging through pain: “He’s got the toughness, and we’re very fortunate to have him.”
McCabe figures battling through the bumps brings out the best in his game, though he occasionally wishes his “face looked a little prettier.” You know, for the sake of his three young children.
“They’re starting to get a little more used to it,” he said. “My daughter asked me if, after this road trip, my face will look normal. I said, ‘I think so. I hope so.’ Knock on wood.”
