Arun Srinivasan

@Arunthings

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Joseph Woll has saved 1.75 goals above expected in all situations through 40 minutes via Natural Stat Trick. Not that you need to further quantify his impact tonight, he's been far and away the Leafs' best player.

1:18 AM · May 12, 2025

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Here are six takeaways from the Maple Leafs’ loss to the Panthers:

• Joseph Woll was easily the Leafs’ best player and was locked in from the start of the game. Woll made 11 saves before allowing the first goal of the game, which he had no chance on, as the Panthers cleverly worked the puck around. The 26-year-old robbed Evan Rodrigues earlier in the frame, showing off some excellent lateral agility, and remained in top form throughout the contest. Woll made an excellent save on Sam Bennett early in the second period and made a series of tremendous stops on Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart to keep the game within reach for the Leafs. He was perhaps the only player fully except from criticism and is widely expected to start Game 5, with Anthony Stolarz still recovering from injury. There are few positives, but if Woll continues to play like this, the Leafs should feel confident in their ability to win two of the next three games.
• Matthew Knies was once again the best player on Toronto’s top line, which is becoming a recurring theme of this series. Auston Matthews did a lot of small things well, but this wasn’t a game where you could find small victories in the process, as the Maple Leafs’ captain’s shooting accuracy appeared to be affected. Matthews was pushing way into high-danger areas, while Knies worked tirelessly to create chances, and they couldn’t solve Sergei Bobrovsky. Knies was strong on the penalty kill as well, transporting the puck down the ice. The 22-year-old couldn’t convert on a short-handed breakaway in the third period, which may have effectively sealed the game. As for Mitch Marner: the Panthers constantly swatted down his passing attempts, and he had multiple shots blocked at the point, which resulted in him racing back to break up some threatening chances. Knies was clearly superior to his linemates, and his teammates overall.
• I wasn’t particularly concerned about Matthews throughout the series, but he is playing through a lingering injury and at some point, his relative lack of shooting accuracy has to be discussed here. Matthews has been superb defensively for the most part, and I’ve often thought that it’s way too flippant to suggest that he merely needs to score against two Selke finalists in Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart. At some point, Matthews’ expected goals will have to translate to actual goals, and with the Leafs presented with an opportunity to take a 3-1 lead on the commanding chances, his lack of finishing was a net negative to his club. The additional day of rest may pay dividends at this time of year for Matthews.
• William Nylander was also creating chances throughout the game, but Gustav Forsling hounded him throughout the night, in a compelling individual matchup. Nylander almost beat Forsling cleanly with a clever inside-outside move, but he swooped too far around Bobrovsky and couldn’t tuck the puck home. Toronto’s dynamic winger received some extra shifts with Bobby McMann and Max Domi in an attempt to invigorate some scoring punch, and he managed to toss a dangerous backhand on net for an offensive zone faceoff. Nylander’s third-period turnover may be be what many remember from this game, but he was attacking creatively, on a night where Knies was the only Leafs forward to meaningfully test the Panthers.
• The error on Sam Bennett’s goal lies more with Jake McCabe and Chris Tanev, than with Nylander. It wasn’t a great pass by Nylander, but Bennett was provided ample space on the rush, with McCabe and Tanev both retreating into the defensive zone without making a real play on the puck. McCabe’s stick check on Bennett didn’t work and Tanev is way too far into the zone, and Bennett was allowed to out-wait Woll for a beautiful looking goal that was the result of poor transition defence. It was a tough night for the Leafs’ top defence pairing, while Simon Benoit was perhaps Toronto’s lone defensive standout in Game 4.
• It’s more important that Matthews converts his chances and the Core Five continue their stellar start to the postseason, but the Maple Leafs’ lack of depth scoring has once again become a real cause for concern. Max Pacioretty and Max Domi have provided timely goals during key moments of the playoffs, but Steven Lorentz, Scott Laughton, Calle Jarnkrok, Pontus Holmberg and Bobby McMann are still without a goal throughout the playoffs. This isn’t a call for major lineup changes either, although Nick Robertson is a scoring option waiting in the wings, but rather that it can’t be entirely on the stars, and the Leafs’ defence activating off the rush. McMann is capable of top-six impact and he’s certainly due, while Laughton was added with the notion that he’d provide some secondary offence to go along with his plus-defence. Toronto’s Other Guys need to start making an impact on the series beyond shot blocks.

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