Joseph Woll played the first two periods against the Hurricanes but didn’t come out for the third period, made extra unfortunate by the fact that he was playing well during those two periods. He stopped 22 of 23 shots in the first 40 minutes, but at some point during the second period he was seen flexing his left leg. The glass half full angle here is that the Leafs were already up 4-1 and Dennis Hildeby has played some great hockey lately, so the Leafs may have just wanted to play it safe in the event Woll was feeling some tightness or discomfort of some sort to avoid a legitimate injury.
On the bright side, the Maple Leafs’ third line continued to put in work against the Hurricanes. Bobby McMann scored two goals including the ice-breaker, which marked the Maple Leafs as the second team since the 2009-10 season to score on their first shot of the game against four consecutive opponents. Yeah, I didn’t know that stat existed either.
Aside from McMann’s two goals, the Leafs also got two contributions from their top line, with Matthew Knies scoring a textbook power forward goal and Auston Matthews following it up with a goal of his own. Scott Laughton scored his second goal of the season and second in as many games, and with every passing game he looks more comfortable and more like the player the Leafs thought they were acquiring at last year’s deadline.
The Maple Leafs will return home on Saturday to face the Montreal Canadiens for their first home game since a 3-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on November 20.