Is Joseph Woll to blame for Leafs' Game 3 loss?

The Toronto Maple Leafs suffered a 5-4 overtime defeat in Game 3 on Friday night, and now reduced their series lead over the Florida Panthers to 2-1. After so many goals were allowed and some untimely tallies passed the Leafs' goal line, we have to ask the question: Was this loss because of Joseph Woll being in between the pipes?

Through three periods and a bit of overtime, Woll faced a total of 36 shots and managed to save 31 of them, all for an .861 save percentage. With that game under his belt, Woll now has an .869 save percentage on the series -- not great but who really cares in the playoffs, and that's not even what we're talking about.

Primarily it's difficult to blame Woll on a good portion of the goals he allowed Friday night, and he certainly made some game-saving saves. Throughout the game, he made several key stops, including a crucial save on Panthers' forward Aleksander Barkov during a power play. He did just what you want from someone who ultimately was the team's second choice when it came to who starts these games.

“I thought he was really good,” Leafs head coach Craig Berube said. “I don’t love the fourth goal. But other than that, I thought he was solid.”

The fourth goal, which also gave the Panthers a lead for the first time in the game, was a brutal one to watch.

Tomas Nosek drives through the neutral zone, and wires the puck through traffic -- after further investigation it did deflect off Jonah Gadjovich and the goal was credited to him -- to place the puck in that super tricky spot under Woll's arm. A placement that makes a goaltender look downright awful no matter what.

But like Berube said, other than that Woll played the game he needed to play. Even on the game-winning goal in the extra frame that was scored by Brad Marchand.

The overtime goal, which resulted from a deflection off Rielly, was a product of misfortune rather than a goaltending error. Such plays are often unpredictable and difficult for any goalie to anticipate. Woll's positioning was appropriate, and he had no chance to react to the deflection

All in all, it was a rough night but only for the bounces not going in favor of Woll and the Leafs. Deflections were aplenty, the traffic was heavy, and some choices outside of Toronto's control did not go their way. But, preventing that or working through that scenario is what earns you a ring.

The only worrying part is if this somewhat consistent trend of a couple leaky chances and not looking as stable as Stolarz was before, it lowers the Leafs' chances of moving on significantly. They will have to work through it as it certainly looks like Woll will be in the crease for at least the remainder of this second round as Stolarz is not returning anytime soon.