Joseph Woll put on his superhero cape and saved the Maple Leafs Wednesday night. The Toronto goaltender stopped 35 of 36 shots, leading his team to a 2-1 overtime victory over Columbus at Nationwide Arena.
Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies returned to the Maple Leafs lineup from their respective injuries. While they were welcome additions, neither was able to inject much offence, nor were their teammates or their opponents, for that matter.
Both teams struggled through a sloppily played game, filled with bad passes and missed opportunities. Columbus did, however, generate shots. The Blue Jackets out-chanced the Leafs 12 to 6 in the opening period, but Woll and his Columbus counterpart, Jet Greaves, were perfect, and they ended the first twenty minutes in a 0-0 tie.
The game remained scoreless through two periods. The Blue Jackets thought they had a goal at the 13:00 minute mark of the second frame. A misplay at the benches led to a four-on-three break. Columbus defensemen Zach Werenski ended up alone between the circles and fired a shot that beat Woll glove side, but a Maple Leafs’ challenge revealed that Ken Johnson was offside, and the goal was disallowed.
Finally, at 13:30 into the third, Werenski put one in the back of the net that counted. Miles Wood led a Columbus rush up the ice, dropped the puck to Werenski, who ripped home a shot from the faceoff dot to set off the cannon and make it 1-0.
But the struggling Leafs did not fold. Woll remained solid, allowing Easton Cowan to score the equaliser just over three minutes later. William Nylander worked hard, freeing the puck behind the net, then poke passing it to the rookie, who shelved it over Greaves for the tie.
Neither team could score another goal before the regulation horn, so they went to overtime, and with 18 seconds left in the extra frame, Nylander won it for Toronto. The winger snuck to the front of the net and outwaited Greaves, flipping one by him to end the game 2-1.
Next Up: Toronto takes on Washington Thursday night at Capital One Arena.
