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Maple Leafs report cards: Joseph Woll stuffs Lightning, William Nylander scores

Maple Leafs report cards: Joseph Woll stuffs Lightning, William Nylander scores

No Auston Matthews? No Mitch Marner? No 12th forward? No problem.

Although Tuesday’s game meant nothing in the standings, there was still a lot to play for despite the personnel sitting in the press box. The Lightning could’ve taken this opportunity to send a message before the playoffs, saying something like, “Sure, we haven’t looked our best this season, but we’re still the Tampa Bay Lightning.”

They pushed, grabbed and hit whenever they could, and instead of taking it, the Leafs pushed back. They were active in the scrums and contested with Tampa Bay when the intensity increased, playing steady enough to respond from tying goals and hold on to the eventual 4-3 lead when the Lightning tried to force overtime.

This game wasn’t a Picasso, and it might not be good enough to hang up in the Louvre. It was a slow dance with some moments of quick footwork, and the Leafs held on to the end. That and any doubt that Joseph Woll can be the backup in the playoffs should be destroyed immediately.

On to the reports.

First star

Joseph Woll

One more save and it would’ve been 50, but Woll stopped 46 of 49 shots on goal against the Lightning. Brayden Point, on the hunt for his 50th goal of the season, had eight of those shots, and Nikita Kucherov had 10. Tampa Bay’s top players threw everything at Woll, and he made save after save and gave the Leafs a whistle for a faceoff or change when the pressure was too much. He did a great job ensuring he got a piece of the pucks sent his way and fighting through traffic and gloving shots down. His best save came in that final push for a tying goal on Kucherov. Woll timed his push well and squeezed the puck against his body.

Second star

William Nylander

Nylander took control of the game with two other members of the Core Four getting the night off. He was excellent on his zone entries with the puck and was the trigger point of a majority of his line’s offensive chances. His 39th goal of the season created the first crack in Andrei Vasilevskiy, as he took advantage of the over-preparedness for a shot and instead sent the puck through.

He added two more assists, one on the power play, and the other — the more impressive of the two — came from stealing the puck from Victor Hedman and passing it to Matthew Knies.

Third star

Calle Järnkrok

It was Järnkrok’s first game back with a weird lineup, but he made the most of it with his second-period goal. Järnkrok followed the puck and buried the rebound, hitting the 20-goal mark and converting on the team’s second five-on-three power play of the season (no hyperbole).

Player reports

A+

Jake McCabe

McCabe was excellent — in the third period, especially — and came up with some clutch tie-ups and blocks. They weren’t your average “stand in the lane” blocks. McCabe got down and stretched his left leg, blocking high-danger wrist shots and one-timers from the right circle.

A

Matthew Knies

Knies is looking more and more comfortable in the NHL. His game lends itself to those who like to skate with and hold on to the puck, and he does a good job working the puck back and setting up his linemates. He’s also good at intercepting the puck along the boards and stealing it on the backcheck.

A few things need ironing out — including his no-look backhand passes — but they will likely be fixed with more game time and figuring out where the Leafs go to keep the puck moving. He has the tools to score in this league, and the assist on Ryan O’Reilly’s goal shows how impactful his shot can be. It squeaked through Vasilevskiy, and maybe with some extra velocity it would have crossed the line, but Knies will have to settle for the apple.

Ryan O’Reilly

He handled matchups against Tampa Bay’s top lines, starting with the faceoff dot. He won battles below the red line and supported his linemates, giving them space to work with the puck. Nylander benefited a lot from this. A give-and-go play on a zone entry gave Nylander the space to shoot and score on Vasilevskiy. Also, O’Reilly followed up with Knies’ shot to make sure it crossed the line for the game winner.

B+

Luke Schenn

The 2008 No. 5 pick scored his first goal as a Leaf since 2012. It was a bit of a knuckler but bamboozled Vasilevskiy high to put Toronto up 2-1.

Minutes later, he dropped Pat Maroon in a fight, throwing several lefts and sending the message that this isn’t a team the Lightning can walk all over.

B

TJ Brodie

He saw a lot of Kucherov, getting a workout on a lot of those early penalty kills. Brodie got some good blocks and tie-ups in the Leafs’ end but also got beat a few times on zone entries. Additionally, his backhanded pass to the slot was the “primary assist” on Mikhail Sergachev’s goal.

Timothy Liljegren

The Lightning like to use the middle of the ice in the offensive zone a lot, so it was good to see Liljegren covering the slot and taking away those options.

Michael Bunting

Bunting gets an “A” in the extracurriculars department. He was public enemy No. 1 against the officiating, and that’s a whole other conversation, but he answered the bell when Corey Perry came knocking and stood up for John Tavares after Toronto’s captain got caught in a three-on-one mobbing in the second.

Once the third period hit, Bunting started creating more offensively with his speed and digging for pucks along the boards.

Noel Acciari

Acciari got the lone assist on Schenn’s goal, fending off Darren Raddysh and Nick Paul. He was also part of the Leafs’ ongoing pushback front during the game. Another good addition at the deadline for that reason.

John Tavares

Tavares made himself a deflection option for Nylander on the power play, and when that didn’t work, he bumped the puck over to Järnkrok for a goal.

Alex Kerfoot

There were some quality skill plays from Kerfoot in the offensive zone. He had a solid toe drag around Hedman in the first and nearly converted on a David Kämpf pass in the second. The only downside is, similar to many of these types of chances this season, Kerfoot didn’t bury them.

David Kämpf

The Leafs leaned on Kämpf. The Lightning had eight power-play opportunities and failed to score on any of them. Kämpf led all Leafs forwards in short-handed time at 6:04, but he started with the puck only twice off the faceoff. When not with the puck, he made some good reads along the boards, getting there before a Tampa Bay player made the pass.

Justin Holl

It was a steady night, for the most part. Holl had a blunder in the second period, putting the puck on Woll, then failing to get it out of the defensive end.

Morgan Rielly

Rielly threw out a hipcheck on Ross Colton. The Tampa forward didn’t expect it, and I can understand why. The Leafs were a bit more reserved as far as their blue-line activations, but Rielly was caught one too many times on the pinch.

C+

Zach Aston-Reese

The TSN boost didn’t get Aston-Reese a goal, but he answered with three hits. He also struggled to clear the puck at times, but he was counted on in the final three minutes when holding on to the lead.

C

Conor Timmins

I was hoping the “Timmins at centre” experiment would work similarly to how it worked against the Leafs via Mark Pysyk. However, Timmins didn’t get many touches of the puck on the wing, and he looked awkward at times playing along the wall.

Game Score

Final grade: B+

The Leafs kept Tampa Bay’s best players at bay. They got their chances, but it took long shots and deflections for their depth players to produce at five-on-five. Tampa Bay’s three goals came from areas high in the zone, and its scoring chances didn’t get dangerous until it found itself on the power play. It was very playoff-like, which should give the Leafs a bit of a chip on their shoulder, considering they didn’t have their two best players. However, the team’s best players were able to produce while Tampa Bay’s couldn’t, and not for a lack of trying.

This was a huge night for Woll. The poise and confidence in net Tuesday, as well as in his other performances this season, should go a long way for the coaching staff. Although there are times when he is far out of the net, he gets back in due time and moves around in the crease to ensure his line of sight is as clear as possible. He didn’t have to make the flashy glove saves or stretch passes. His movements were sound, and he made his bigger saves look textbook.

What’s next?

The Leafs finish their regular season Thursday against the New York Rangers (7 p.m., TSN4).

(Photo: Kim Klement / USA Today)

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Harry Miller is a writer and editor based in Toronto who has Ten years of experience in the journalism industry. Before coming to Canada News Media as a National Online Journalist, Miller worked as a senior writer and a reporter-editor with the Canadian Press and a breaking news reporter with the Toronto Star. Miller currently holds two bachelor’s degrees, one in journalism from Ryerson University and another in communications and film studies from Carleton University.

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