Maple Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll tried to put a less-than-stellar Monday night showing against Minnesota behind him by journaling. The Leafs are hoping to make good on the remaining four games of their five-game homestand, starting Wednesday against the Red Wings.Chris Tanouye/Getty Images
Some goaltenders are simply content to mope. Others – particularly in years gone by – might have hit the local watering hole to drown their sorrows.
However, as befits someone who plays the piano in their spare time, Joseph Woll takes a more literary approach to turning the page on disappointment. Shortly after getting hooked following a five-goal shelling in Monday’s 6-3 loss the Minnesota Wild, the Maple Leafs netminder pulled out his journal and started to write.
“It helps me,” he said following practice on Tuesday. “My mind can spin and spin on games like I imagine [it can for] a lot of other people. So for me, it helps me kind of put it to rest, like I know I can let it go because I’ve taken what I need from it, and can just kind of flush it.”
Woll and his Maple Leafs teammates need to do exactly that, and fast. The next seven days loom large with the power to make or break Toronto’s playoff hopes, with the team playing four more games in a five-game homestand that wraps up next Tuesday against the resurgent Buffalo Sabres.
Following that contest, the Leafs will only have 10 more home games over the remaining two-and-a-half months of the season, versus 19 away from Scotiabank Arena. That divergency makes for somewhat uncomfortable reading for the Toronto faithful, especially when considered in light of the team’s 16-6-5 record at home versus its less-optimal 8-11-3 showing on the road.
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To make matters worse, the team is currently on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. Entering Tuesday night’s games, the Leafs were one point back of the Sabres, who sat in the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
“I mean every game is important right now,” said Matthew Knies following Monday’s loss. “I feel like our side of the standings, it’s never been closer. I know I’ve only been in the league for three years, but from when I look at it it’s a tight race, so all of them matter, especially this stretch at home. I think our record at home has been really good so we’re going to try to keep it that way.”
Knies was held out of practice Tuesday with the lingering lower-body issue that he’s been nursing for some time now, but head coach Craig Berube expects him to play on Wednesday against the Detroit Red Wings.
After seeing his team make “too many mistakes” in Monday’s loss, Berube also expects a different effort from his group on Wednesday, particularly with a divisional opponent in town. The Red Wings, who entered play Tuesday night tied for the Atlantic Division lead with Tampa Bay, are currently eight points above the Leafs in the standings. Detroit has owned Toronto so far this season, winning all three of their previous contests, twice in regulation.
Leafs’ captain Auston Matthews has 19 points in his last 12 games and will hope to keep adding to those totals as his team tries to fight its way into a playoff spot.JOHN WOODS/The Canadian Press
While it’s not quite a must-win, Berube appreciates the scale of this game and the pressure his team is likely to be under between now and the end of the season. The Leafs are looking to extend the longest active postseason streak in the NHL, currently sitting at nine seasons and counting.
“Pressure is pressure,” he said. “I don’t know how you defuse pressure. I mean, we’ve had an extremely good record at home. [Monday] night, we didn’t play our best, and we got beat, obviously.
“But [Wednesday’s] a huge game. We know that Detroit, they’re in our division, so we’ll be ready for the game.”
Whatever happens against the Red Wings – with winger Patrick Kane needing just two points to tie Mike Modano’s record for the most points by a U.S.-born player – things don’t get any easier for the Leafs. Mitch Marner is set to play his first game back in Toronto on Friday night when his Vegas Golden Knights swing through town, before the NHL’s best team – the Colorado Avalanche – descend for a matinee on Sunday.
For Toronto to take full advantage of the next four games though, captain Auston Matthews will surely have to continue his recent hot streak, particularly with star winger William Nylander – still the team’s leading scorer despite missing 12 games this season – yet to progress to on-ice workouts in his return from injury.
Matthews grabbed his 25th goal of the season in Monday’s loss – his 11th goal and 19th point in his past 12 games – as he continued to drop hard evidence that his game has come around and his offensive capabilities are firing on all cylinders.
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For those that have played with him for a little while though, the captain’s recent explosion is hardly a shock.
“It’s no surprise to us, he’s been doing it all year, and really has obviously taken off here this last month of putting the puck in the back of the net,” Jake McCabe said Tuesday.
And despite the front-loaded schedule that saw the Leafs play a lot of home games early on, McCabe doesn’t fret too hard about where the contests are being played as his team continues its push for the postseason.
“Each game is worth the same amount of points, so I don’t put an emphasis on home or away,” he said. “We’re just trying to collect points every night.”