{"id":382981,"date":"2025-12-31T17:07:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T17:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/382981\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T17:07:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T17:07:07","slug":"woll-stands-tall-as-short-handed-maple-leafs-dump-devils-4-0","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/382981\/","title":{"rendered":"Woll stands tall as short-handed Maple Leafs dump Devils 4-0"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 The odds were stacked against the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a>, who on Tuesday were playing their third game in four nights since the Christmas break and were without key injured players Auston Matthews<\/a>, William Nylander<\/a> and Chris Tanev<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the Maple Leafs hunkered down and benefited from a superb performance from netminder Joseph Woll<\/a> in the 4-0 victory against the New Jersey Devils<\/a> before 18,923 at Scotiabank Arena.<\/p>\n

Woll made 33 saves to earn his first shutout of the season and first regular-season shutout in more than 13 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was unreal for us,\u201d said Maple Leafs forward Matthew Knies<\/a>, who scored an empty-netter in the third period after Bobby McMann<\/a> and Nicolas Roy<\/a> had the home squad ahead 2-0 after 40 minutes. Calle Jarnkrok<\/a> scored in the third period.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe (Woll) was easily our best player,\u201d Knies added.<\/p>\n

Woll was on his game early with a big stop on Ondrej Palat<\/a> in the opening five minutes. He also shone during a couple of New Jersey power plays, the first late in the second period and again in the late going of the final period.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think just feeling the puck early is nice,\u201d the 27-year-old from St. Louis said. \u201cAnytime you get shots early, make big saves early, I think that definitely helps you get engaged, get in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Woll spent time on the injured reserve list when he came down with a lower-body ailment in early December. He returned last week and has now won three in a row.<\/p>\n

Woll gave credit to his teammates up front for their strong performance in the absence of Matthews (lower body), Nylander (lower body), Tanev (lower body), as well as Dakota Joshua<\/a>, who remains in Detroit after suffering a kidney injury in the game against the Red Wings on Sunday.<\/p>\n

His teammates blocked 16 shots, with Jake McCabe<\/a> leading the way with eight.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s how strong we played, and especially in the third period,\u201d said Woll, who had to contend with a 6-on-4 Devils advantage when New Jersey coach Sheldon Keefe<\/a> pulled Jacob Markstrom<\/a> during a power play.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s how much you shut them down with them pulling their goalie and having a few minutes at the extra attacker and stuff,\u201d Woll said. \u201cSo it\u2019s a great team run for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Maple Leafs have won three of their last four outings, with an overtime loss in Detroit. Their improved play was not lost on head coach Craig Berube<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re playing a lot better, puck play is better,\u201d Berube said. \u201cEverybody contributed, and the goalie was pretty good. The team has confidence, they\u2019re understanding how we need to do things.\u201d<\/p>\n

NEWFIE CONNECTION<\/p>\n

The Maple Leafs honoured 10 players who passed away in 2025 with a pre-game tribute, and it wasn\u2019t lost on Devils forward Dawson Mercer<\/a> when Alex Faulkner<\/a>\u2019s photo was shown on the scoreboard.<\/p>\n

Mercer hails from Carbonear, Nfld. Faulkner, who passed away six weeks shy of his 89th birthday, was the first Newfoundlander to play in the NHL. He\u2019s considered the patron saint of Newfoundland hockey.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never met him,\u201d the 24-year-old Mercer said. \u201cBut there are only a few of us who have played in the NHL from Newfoundland. We all know who he was and how much he\u2019s meant to us. He was the first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mercer performed in his 367th consecutive game. In his fifth season, the 24-year-old has yet to miss an outing.<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 31, 2025.<\/p>\n

Tim Wharnsby, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 The odds were stacked against the Toronto Maple Leafs, who on Tuesday were playing their third…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382982,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-382981","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}