The Maple Leafs held an optional skate at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh on Thursday.
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The Leafs will stick with Joseph Woll in net as they wrap up their road trip in Raleigh.
“He’s been rolling good, and he’s feeling good,” said coach Craig Berube. “When you communicate with him and how he’s feeling, where he’s at from a physical standpoint and a mental standpoint, you know, it’s a pretty easy decision.”Woll will be starting for the eighth time in nine games since returning from personal leave on Nov. 15. He is 3-3-1 with a sparkling .924 save percentage. The only game Woll did not play in this stretch came in Pittsburgh on Saturday, which was the second half of a back-to-back set.
With Anthony Stolarz sidelined with an undisclosed injury, which is described by the team as an upper-body issue, the Leafs have leaned on Woll. Current backup goalie Dennis Hildeby has performed well (.914 save percentage in six appearances) but is inexperienced, with only nine career NHL starts.
“I’ve been fortunate to be able to be playing a lot,” Woll told ESPN after Tuesday’s win in Florida. “Hoping that Stollie’s back soon, but just being able to get in the net a lot, day in and day out, helps you find that rhythm and get back into the season. It’s harder when you’re waiting a week between games and stuff like that. I’ve been enjoying getting on the ice and being able to play.”
The Leafs are in the middle of a busy stretch. Toronto will host the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday and Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday.
Woll stayed off the ice for additional rest on Thursday morning.
Leafs Ice Chips: Roll with Woll Joseph Woll will be back in net against the Hurricanes tonight as he gets set for his eighth start in nine games since returning from personal leave. Woll has been very impressive and the games coming fast and furious as of late haven’t seemed to bother him. Mark Masters has more.
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Woll will likely see a lot of rubber on Thursday night. The Hurricanes average 33.2 shots per game, which is tops in the Eastern Conference and second overall in the league. Carolina fired 47 shots on Hildeby during a 5-4 win in Toronto in the first meeting of the season between the teams on Nov. 9.
“We had the lead and then we kind of just opened things up, and it was like a river hockey game,” Berube recalled. “We can’t play that way against this team.”
The Leafs led 4-2 in the second period before the Hurricanes stormed back. The second period was a mess for Toronto that night as Carolina generated four breakaways.
“You’re going to have to have patience in your game because they’re coming so hard with pressure,” Berube said. “You’re going to have to flip pucks. You’re going to have to chip things out. It’s a little ugly at times, but that’s okay. You just keep staying with it, and you’ll get your breaks eventually, and we’ll get some looks. So, just staying more patient than we did last time we played them.”
Toronto is expecting a similar challenge to the one they faced on Tuesday against the Florida Panthers.
“A little bit of the same mentality as we had last game,” said centre Nicolas Roy. “Be hungry in those battles. Breakouts are going to be important. Stay disciplined.”
The Leafs are at the end of a season-long five game road trip. The Hurricanes, who have been off since a 1-0 overtime win over the Calgary Flames on Sunday, are in the middle of a season-long seven-game run at home.
‘Continued sense of urgency’ as Leafs look to avoid ‘river hockey’ in Raleigh As they get set to face the Hurricanes tonight, the Maple Leafs are looking to avoid the same mistakes they made against Carolina the last time they played them and discuss what the keys will be to finish off their six-game road trip with a win.
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The Leafs have won three of four games to climb out of the Eastern Conference basement, but no one is getting too carried away.
“I don’t think we ever look at it as, you know, ‘We’ve turned the corner,’” said centre John Tavares. “We’ve got a lot of hockey here to play, and we got to keep working at it and keep getting better and keep earning results. But we obviously feel better about where our game is trending and where it’s headed … “There’s just the continued sense of urgency.”
“You don’t want to get too ahead of yourself,” said captain Auston Matthews. “You just want to continue building as a team and we got a great opportunity to end the road trip on the right note.”
Tavares did acknowledge that when the wins pile up, the team as a whole is a bit looser.
“No doubt when you’re earning results I think naturally it just allows you to play a little more instinctive,” he said.
Are the Leafs turning a corner? ‘We’re on the right track’ As the Maple Leafs get set to end a six-game road trip in Carolina, mood around the club is positive as they have won three of their last four games, including a victory over the defending Stanley Cup champions from Florida. Despite the recent success, Toronto knows that they still have a lot of work to do.
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Two of the top faceoff men in the NHL will duel at the dot on Thursday with Tavares taking on Carolina captain Jordan Staal.
When he takes on Staal at the dot, Tavares can’t help but recall facing off against current Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour during his rookie season.
“A tremendous faceoff guy that certainly has probably had a good influence on him,” Tavares said. “You add that to the physical attributes and his hockey IQ and all those sorts of things, it’s obviously always a tough test. You got to be your best and your sharpest against a guy like Staal on the dot.”
The Leafs are winning 57 per cent of their faceoffs this season, which ranks second overall behind only the Ottawa Senators.
Tavares is winning 61.4 per cent of his faceoffs. Staal is winning 57.5 per cent of his faceoffs.
“I’ve learned from him,” said Roy, who was picked by the Hurricanes in the fourth round of the 2015 draft. “Being two big guys, I think that bottom hand has got to be strong.”
After going 12-3 at the dot on Tuesday, Roy is up to 54.5 per cent on the season. His career average is 48.2 per cent.
“Honestly, it goes by sequence,” said Roy. “Some sequence, it’s better. Some sequence a little bit tougher. It’s a really good one right now. I try to be simple out there, be strong.”
Facing Staal on faceoffs reminds Tavares of Brind’Amour battles John Tavares and Nicolas Roy describe what it’s like going up against Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal at the faceoff circle and Roy explains what he learned from him throughout his time in Carolina.
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Easton Cowan is soaking up a lot of new experiences during the longest road trip of his young NHL career. The Leafs visited Columbus, Washington, Pittsburgh and Fort Lauderdale, Fla. before landing in Raleigh.
Cowan’s favourite city so far?
“Probably Florida for sure,” the 20-year-old rookie said with a grin. “Waking up beside the beach is super nice, and just great weather. Yeah, it was fun for sure.”
His favourite meal on the trip also came in Florida as Cowan joined Nick Robertson, Philippe Myers and Dakota Mermis for dinner on Monday night.
“It was a really good steak,” he said. “Good Caesar salad.”
On the ice, Cowan is looking more and more like a veteran.
“His game has matured quite a bit,” said winger Matthew Knies. “There’s a play in the third period [Tuesday] where he got knocked down and got right back up and got it out of the zone. That shows a lot of confidence to that kind of stuff. I think he’s maturing a lot.”
Berube credited the second line of Cowan, Tavares and William Nylander for remaining patient and diligent defensively despite not generating much offence.
“I felt like we played really good defensively,” said Cowan, who was held without a shot for only the fourth time this season. “We had a couple chances. Obviously hard to create. They’re a good team.”
There are still times, however, when Cowan looks his age. After most wins, the Leafs social team posts a video featuring scenes from the dressing room. It usually included Berube’s post-game message and the player-of-the-game belt being awarded.
On Tuesday night, there was some bonus footage at the end that showed Cowan placing his shinpads on the shelf above his stall only to have them slide off and hit him in the head.
“I got to wake up, I guess,” Cowan said with a laugh. “I don’t know. It was just slippery up top, I guess. I don’t know. Just unlucky.”
“Off the ice, I think he’s just grown a lot as a person,” said Knies. “I think everyone’s starting to get to know him, and he’s getting more comfortable with the guys, so it’s a lot of fun having him around.”
Cowan shares favourite meal from first long Leafs trip; wary of slippery shin pads Maple Leafs rookie Easton Cowan says that it’s ‘good to spend time with the boys’ on his first long road trip with the team and describes his favourite meal from when he went out for dinner in Florida.
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Projected Leafs lineup for Thursday’s game:
Knies – Matthews – Domi
Cowan – Tavares – Nylander
Joshua – Roy – McMann
Lorentz – Laughton – Robertson
Rielly – Ekman-Larsson
McCabe – Stecher
Benoit – Myers
Woll starts
Hildeby
Troy Stecher: “Seventh team of my career … Career, in a sense, in my mind, is kind of on the line & you either show up & you play or you fail & you sink. Just trying to leave it all out there &, so far, it’s been going well, but no time for complacency” https://t.co/6arDlrmYXm
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) December 4, 2025