Woll stays composed for Maple Leafs in Game 4 of Eastern 2nd Round

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Joseph Woll leaned on the crossbar, his arms spread over the top of his net, seemingly impervious to the chaos around him.

There he was, a 24-year-old rookie starting in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time, with the responsibility of saving the Toronto Maple Leafs season. Sam Reinhart had just scored against him to bring the Florida Panthers within 2-1 at 12:13 of the third period, and the crowd at FLA Live Arena was going bonkers.

Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe called a timeout so his team could regain its composure. It seems his goalie didn't need it.

Was he nervous? Was he concerned about the change in momentum? What did he think about the environment with the fans going crazy and the opposing team gaining momentum?

"It was awesome," he said.

Much like his play.

On a night when some of the Maple Leafs' best players were finally that, the kid some of his teammates have nicknamed "The Brick Woll" was exactly that, making 24 saves in a game they held on to win 2-1.

The victory allowed them to avoid elimination and cut the best-of-7 series deficit to 3-1 in the Eastern Conference Second Round that shifts back to Toronto for Game 5 at Scotiabank Arena on Friday (7 p.m. ET; TNT, CBC, SN, TVAS).

RELATED: [Complete Maple Leafs vs. Panthers series coverage]

This was a game the Maple Leafs needed to have, and they showed it. After their "Core Four" forwards of Mitchell Marner, William Nylander, Auston Matthews and John Tavares combined for zero goals through the first three games, Marner and Nylander each scored for Toronto. Toronto blocked 21 shots compared to Florida's nine, with Tavares, the Maple Leafs captain, even sacrificing his body to contribute to that total.

Most importantly, they played with what defenseman Justin Holl described as "urgency," a trait they curiously seemed to lack in their 3-2 overtime loss in Game 3.

But in the end, Game 4 was about Woll, whose cool, calm and unflappable nature even at the most hectic and crucial of times seemed to spread throughout the entire team.

"For me, my mindset doesn't change. You know what the situation is in the game," Woll said when asked about how unflappable he was, especially after Reinhart's goal. "I think that's the little game within the game I play in my mind. I think that was important at that time of the game as well.

"It was awesome to see how hard we played those last few minutes as well."

Woll was bidding to become the youngest Maple Leafs goalie to have a shutout since Felix Potvin, made 42 saves at the age of 23 in a 3-0 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on May 9, 1995. Reinhart spoiled that effort, but it couldn't take away from the admiration his teammates had for their goalie.

"Just so composed, and he's just so dialed in," Tavares said. "You can just see the focus.

"He doesn't take things too seriously, but he's dialed in. His preparation, his focus is elite, and I'm not surprised. Last couple of years here, we've seen his potential and what his focus is like.

"He came in and did one [heck] of a job for us tonight."

It has been an improbable journey for Woll, given what he's gone through the past 14 months.

He injured his shoulder in March 2022 and then had a setback during rehab. Mix that in with an ankle injury, and he missed all of training camp. In fact, it was about eight months before he returned to the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League.

Selected by Toronto in the third round (No. 62) of the 2016 NHL Draft, Woll has 11 NHL regular-season games on his resume. He's 9-2-0 with a 2.38 goals-against average, .924 save percentage and one shutout.

But he entered Game 3 against the Panthers after starter Ilya Samsonov was injured in a collision with teammate Luke Schenn just 37 seconds into the second period and allowed three goals on 21 shots. It was Woll's second playoff game; he allowed one goal on five shots in relief of Samsonov in a 7-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round.

With Samsonov day to day with an upper body injury, Keefe insisted the team had confidence in Woll. He certainly ended up repaying their trust Wednesday.

The coach didn't indicate who would start Game 5 if Samsonov is healthy, but it does seem obvious, doesn't it? Would Keefe really consider changing the narrative when Woll put on such a performance with Toronto's season on the line?

On Tuesday, Keefe had said there was no consideration to start Matt Murray in Game 4 even though he was healthy. During his postgame press conference, the coach wanted to clarify that he didn't mean that to be a shot at the veteran goalie.

"It's not a reflection of how we feel about Matt Murray, it's more a reflection of how we feel about Joe Woll," he said. "His development over the last year is well above what we'd anticipated in terms of a timeline, especially for a guy who missed training camp and a lot of his offseason. Didn't get to train. Didn't get to play his position.

"He was behind the 8-ball for us. He was behind the 8-ball with the Marlies. … Tremendous job."

There still remains plenty of work to do.

Only four teams in NHL history have come back from down 3-0 in a best-of-7 series: the Maple Leafs against the Detroit Red Wings in the 1942 Stanley Cup Final, the New York Islanders against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1975 Stanley Cup Quarterfinals, the Philadelphia Flyers against the Boston Bruins in the 2010 Eastern Conference Semifinals and the Los Angeles Kings against the San Jose Sharks in the 2014 Western Conference First Round.

Indeed, the Maple Leafs are still facing some steep odds.

Then again, a year ago, so was Woll when it came to where his career was headed. Even he could not have predicted how this would play out.

"It was awesome," he said again.