TORONTO -- Joseph Woll is out week to week for the Toronto Maple Leafs with a high ankle sprain he sustained in a 4-3 win against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday.
Woll left the game at 10:38 of the third period after making a save on a backhand from Rourke Chartier, who was near the side boards. He was unable to put any weight on his left leg and required assistance from his teammates to leave the ice.
Woll made 29 saves prior to the injury.
“It was what I was told to expect coming out of the other night, so I came to terms with the news pretty quickly the other night, so it doesn’t change anything for me,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said Saturday. “It’s a tough blow for our team, tough blow for Joseph of course, but a tremendous opportunity here now for the other two guys, [Ilya] Samsonov in particular. He hasn’t played for quite a while and has been trying to find his game and find a groove, so there you go.”
Samsonov made 18 saves in a 4-0 win against the Nashville Predators on Saturday in his first start for Toronto since Nov. 24. He is 5-1-3 with a 3.21 goals-against average and .886 save percentage in 11 games this season.
“He’s a veteran in this league,” Maple Leafs forward Noah Gregor said prior to the game. “He’ll be ready to go. He’s a really good goalie for us. We just have to do a job in front of him and I know he will be ready to go tonight.”
Woll is 8-5-1 with a 2.80 GAA and .916 save percentage in 15 games (13 starts) this season.
“When I talked to him, he was a little upset with himself,” Keefe said. “The way he looks at it is he kind of missed his post when he was trying to play that shot, which put extra stress on the joint, but obviously he needs to let go of that, shake that off.”
Woll also sustained an ankle injury last season while recovering from offseason shoulder surgery, which delayed his season debut until Nov. 25, 2022, with Toronto of the American Hockey League.
“He’s been through these things before and he’s battled his way back and when he has, he’s come back an even better version of himself which is a credit to him,” Keefe said. “We’ve seen tremendous growth in him off the ice, away from the game which for me is a big reason why we are seeing his talent take over. I have no doubts in my mind that he will handle this extremely well.”
Martin Jones, who had been recalled from Toronto of the AHL on an emergency basis on Thursday with Samsonov was unavailable due to an illness, made his season debut in relief of Woll against the Senators, making nine saves on 10 shots. He backed up Samsonov against the Predators on Saturday.
Jones, who signed a one-year, $875,000 contract with the Maple Leafs on Aug. 9, cleared waivers Oct. 9. He is 2-1-1 with an .870 save percentage in five AHL games this season.
