Woll, scorching third line spark Maple Leafs comeback
The Maple Leafs were slow to start again but Joesph Woll and another impact game from the third line produced a comeback win.
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DALLAS — If you were to look only at the brothers’ head-to-head results, you’d be hard-pressed to circle Jason Robertson as the one with the $31-million contract, 40-goal seasons and the deep playoff runs.
Because when big brother Jason’s Dallas Stars cross paths with Nick Robertson’s Toronto Maple Leafs, the little brother always comes out on top.
Following Toronto’s 5-3 comeback win Wednesday at American Airlines Center, Nick improved his record to 5-0 when facing off against Jason.
And with conflicted mom Mercedes watching in the stands, decked out in her Stars sweater and Leafs ballcap, Nick now has three goals heads-up. Jason has none.
“I gotta put my feelings for him away and help the team win,” Nick said. “I mean, it’s nice that I get to see him. But it’s tough because it’s like, you want to win, you want to do all the things you can. And I know he’s on the other side. It kind of makes it weird.
“I want the best for my brother but also want the best for the team.”
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Fans should have equally mixed feelings about Wednesday’s clash between two of hockey’s stingiest teams, a couple of perennial contenders.
Slow to start again, the Maple Leafs struggled to get to the dangerous areas early and got outshot 16-4 by the home side through 20 minutes.
And yet, because Toronto’s goalie, Joseph Woll, was far and away the night’s first star, and Woll’s longtime friend, Jake Oettinger, got chased soon after allowing four on his first eight shots, the Leafs ended up bagging the victory.
“He’s putting the team on his back in these situations,” William Nylander said of Woll’s 38-save headstand, which included going 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.
What sticks out most about Woll’s performance, his first since learning that tandem mate Anthony Stolarz will miss four to six weeks rehabbing from knee surgery?
“What it always is,” Bobby McMann said. “It’s just his composure. Feels calm, cool back there. We trust him all the time. Technically, always very sound. Looks like he’s square to the shot, and I don’t think he’s giving up a lot to shoot at. So, he did great back there and showed his athleticism on a couple saves there, which saved us again.”
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Whether it was the 10-beller on Roope Hintz’s breakaway or the 10-beller on Miro Heiskanen’s 2-on-1 rush, Woll held down the fort long enough for the Leafs’ speedy third line to fuel a comeback on a relatively quiet night the superstars.
That’s two impact games in a row for Robertson, McMann, and Max Domi, each of whom snapped one past a human-looking Oettinger.
“We’re just trusting ourselves to do our jobs, and that the next guy’s going to do his, and we’re just competing. That’s No. 1, competing to get pucks back, and when the puck’s on our sticks, obviously those guys can make plays and have been showing it,” McMann said.
In Robertson’s case, the bubble winger isn’t just competing against his brother or for his linemates, but to stay in the lineup.
His recent spark of excellent play was preceded by four healthy scratches.
“I want to play every game. That’s my goal,” said Nick, who didn’t utter a word to Jason during the battle. “He doesn’t talk to anyone, no matter if you’re his brother or a buddy or a nobody.
“I respect it, and then I don’t talk to him. So, it’s a business thing, and we got to go out there and compete against each other.”
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The elevation of both Woll and this newfound wave of bottom-six scoring is timely, what with Stolarz’s absence and the top six getting outscored.
And it’s a reminder that relying on the same guys to get the job done every night isn’t the recipe for a long run come spring.
That a contender needs stellar goaltending goes without saying.
But a third line that can make a real dent on the scoreboard and not just kill clock is essential, too.
“They’re skating hard, winning battles, making small little plays, getting on the forecheck and going to the net. Yeah, they’ve been great for us,” Nylander said.
“That’s what’s going to be important. It’s a long ways away, but playoffs, that’s what you want from your team. Everybody clicking, everybody scoring.”
Fox’s Fast Five
• Nylander has played 635 games for Toronto but can’t remember skating a full 60 minutes on the same line as Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner — a creative line Berube warned not to get fancy pregame.
“I don’t think we’ve ever played a game together fully,” said Nylander, tarps off.
So, how’d the $35.65-million top line look, Coach?
“I know they got a goal and some chances and stuff. Just for me, I think they were off tonight a little bit — like a lot of our guys were. I didn’t think they had their best game,” Berube said. “But we’ll see.”
The Super Line got outscored 2-1 and outshot 8-6.
Equally concerning is that Toronto’s second unit of John Tavares, Max Pacioretty, and Matthews Knies didn’t register a single shot or a scoring chance all night.
Despite a couple wins, the current top six feels like a short-lived experiment.
• Meanwhile, down on the farm, Matt Murray pitched a 27-save shutout for the Marlies in Wilkes-Barre, the veteran goalie’s first start since “tweaking” something last week.
“That’s encouraging. That’s great for him and the Marlies. And this guy’s got a lot of experience, and he’s won,” Berube said. “So, we’re gonna look at everything and make some decisions.”
The Leafs have a relatively soft back-to-back this weekend against the Sabres and Islanders.
Does Dennis Hildeby get his fourth start, or does the organization turn to Murray?
• Captain Jamie Benn was applauded for setting a new Dallas Stars record with 1,143 games played for the franchise.
The record should come with an asterisk, though.
Previous record-holder Mike Modano played 1,459 if you include his appearances with the Minnesota North Stars, who moved south in 1993.
• The Stars treated Make-A-Wish kid Holden McCoy like a full-fledged NHLer this week, inviting him onto the bench, on the ice, and into the dressing room.
Coach Pete DeBoer went so far bring the eighth-grader into the club’s pregame meetings to prep for the Leafs. But forgot to hand him earmuffs.
“I think we had one slip of profanity this morning, but we’re trying awful hard to keep it clean,” DeBoer said.
“Great experience for him, and it brings great energy to our group, having him around. Especially this time of year, when the season starts to get long and you’ve got the flu running through the team, it does give you some good perspective.”
• DeBoer on Chris Tanev’s role in helping the Stars reach the 2024 conference final:
“He really solidified our defensive group. Played big, hard, heavy minutes for us against all the teams, top players,” the coach said. “If you look at our playoff path last year, we had (Jack) Eichel in Vegas in the first round, we had (Nathan) MacKinnon and Colorado in the second round, we had (Connor) McDavid and Edmonton in the third round. And he was playing against all those guys every night. Big part of what we did here last year.”
