Great Woll: Rookie goaltender saves Maple Leafs from playoff elimination


The Toronto Maple Leafs survive to play another day.

Mitch Marner had a goal and assist for the Maple Leafs, and rookie netminder Joseph Woll turned aside 24 of 25 shots he faced as the Maple Leafs defeated the Florida Panthers 2-1 Wednesday night to avoid a sweep in their second-round playoff series.

Woll, who started in place of the injured Ilya Samsonov, became the first rookie to start a playoff game for the Maple Leafs since Felix Potvin in 1993.

William Nylander opened the scoring on the power play three minutes into the second period while Marner’s third of the playoffs at the 10-minute mark of the third period proved to be the eventual game-winner.

The Leafs’ star-forward quartet of Auston Matthews, Nylander, John Tavares and Marner had combined for zero goals through the first three games of the series.

This was Toronto’s first win in the second round of the playoffs since April 2004.

Sam Reinhart scored the lone goal for the Panthers on the power play with just under eight minutes to play in the third.

The loss snapped Florida’s six-game winning streak in the playoffs, dating back to Game 5 of their first-round upset of Boston.

Toronto is looking to become just the fifth team in NHL playoff history to come back from a 3-0 series deficit.

Florida remains in a good position to make the conference final for the first time since 1996. Teams that take a 3-0 series lead hold an all-time record of 199-4.

Game 5 is scheduled for Friday in Toronto.

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