To state the obvious, this is not a good time for Toronto Maple Leafs fans or management alike, who have seen their beloved team surrender 15 goals in their last three games. Other alarming Leafs trends include seeing their best player, captain Auston Matthews leave the ice with a lower-body injury. along with losing starting goalie Anthony Stolarz to injury.
In what has to be the season's low point, Toronto's defence proved to be extremely leaky, and Stolarz was not at his best as the Leafs on Saturday, November 8th, dropped a 5-3 decision at home against the Boston Bruins, which was followed 24 hours later at home by a 5-4 loss against the Carolina Hurricanes before losing on Remembrance Day at TD Garden by a 5-3 decision in a rematch against the Bruins.
Stolarz had a weekend to forget as he was pulled after 20 minutes of play from that Saturday home loss after allowing four goals on 19 Bruins shots. Three nights later, at TD Garden, for the rematch against Boston, Stolarz allowed three first-period goals on 10 shots before leaving after the first period of play due to an upper-body injury.
Maple Leafs need to find answers before it's too late
The second alarming trend, as mentioned earlier, was defence, as Toronto's blue line committed all sorts of giveaways throughout all three of these losses and were guilty at times of just standing around.
Following that November 8 loss at Boston, where the Leafs surrendered 39 shots, things went from bad to worse against the Hurricanes, who outshot Toronto 22-2 in the third period and 47-20 for the game. This game would see the Leafs give up multiple Hurricanes breakaways and fail to hold a 4-2 second period lead. The only real positive was Leafs backup Dennis Hildeby, who impressed with a 42-save effort.
During Tuesday night's loss in Boston, the turning point began early in the first when, with the game tied 1-1, Bruins would strike for three straight goals, with two coming in the first and forward David Pastrnak's scoring in the second period his 400th career goal, which gave Boston a 4-1 lead
As mentioned earlier, Stolarz was injured after the first period, which brings up the question of whether backup Joseph Woll, who has missed significant time due to a leave of absence and is currently playing a conditional stint for the AHL's Toronto Marlies, is ready to be called up.
Woll, who is 27 years old, was originally drafted in 2016, 62nd overall by the Leafs. Heading into the season, this 6'3", 212-pound goaltender has played in 78 games with the Leafs, where he has posted a 48-27-2 record with two shutouts, along with a 2.74 GAA and .910 save percentage. Unfortunately, early in training camp, Woll got permission to take a leave of absence for reasons which haven't been revealed
.Since returning from that leave of absence, Woll has, including Wednesday's outing, had two conditional stints with the Marlies.
His second came on Wednesday, November 12th when in an afternoon game he stopped 25 of 28 shots in a 3-2 OT loss against the Grand Rapid Griffins.
His first conditional stint came on November 8th when Woll made 21 saves on 24 shots in a 3-2 loss at Lehigh Valley against the Phantoms.
In his two outings with the Marlies, Woll has played 96:48 where he stopped 46 of 52 shots.
No decisions have been made about when Woll will get called up but with Storarz , injured and the Leafs hungry for points, one would think it would be pretty soon.