They’re the two words no Toronto Maple Leafs fan ever wants to hear in May. Game 7. But here we are once again.

In what’s been as up-and-down of a series as you can get against the defending Cup-champion Florida Panthers, the two teams are tied 3-3 and set for a winner-take-all game on Sunday night. Whoever emerges victorious won’t have any time to rest, with Game 1 against the victor of this series taking place on Tuesday night. The Leafs are the highest-seeded remaining team in the playoffs, so if they win, they will have home-ice advantage the rest of the way.

That’s all great and fun, but in order to win this game, they not only have to out-duel a tough out in the Panthers, they have to do it with the pressure of slaying their biggest dragon in the Auston Matthews era – the ever so coveted Game 7. They’re 0-5 in five Game 7s since Matthews was drafted, 0-6 if you want to count the bubble play-in series’ Game 5 vs. the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2019-20.

Based on past playoff runs and past experiences, you would have no reason to believe that the Leafs have any shot at winning a Game 7. But that’s all those are – things of the past. And one element the Maple Leafs did not have for any of those Games was a goaltender with a proven track record in games facing elimination.

Enter Joseph Woll.

The fact that Woll is the ‘1B’ of this tandem really puts into perspective how much of a breath of fresh air this tandem has been for the market. The concern around the two last summer and heading into the regular season was the fact that neither goaltender had eclipsed more than 28 games in a single season, paired with their past durability issues. In the end, Stolarz took the reins as starter and Woll did everything you could possibly ask of a backup goaltender and then some. In fact, he played more games than Stolarz due to the latter missing time with a knee injury earlier in the season. No matter the situation, he was ready for it.

The latest situation saw him jump into the pilot of what was going to be a heated series between the Maple Leafs and Panthers, after Sam Bennett clipped Stolarz and knocked him out of Game 1 with an injury. On paper, his stat line of a 3.28 goals-against average (GAA) and .893 save percentage (SV%) don’t look too flattering, but it’s important to note that Game 3’s 5-4 overtime loss was the only one you could really point to him as a fault. He had to jump into a tough situation in Game 1, and the entire team mailed it in for Game 5. He was excellent in Games 2, 4, and 6, and as noted in the tweet above, he tends to have a little extra pep in his step when his back is against the wall.

The 2022-23 series against the Panthers was his first taste of playoff action, and like this year, it came in the form of relief for an injured starter. Ilya Samsonov was hurt in Game 3, so Woll came into the lineup and posted save percentages of .960 and .930 in the two games when they faced elimination, stopping 40 of 43 shots in their Game 5 overtime loss to send them packing. The Leafs were clearly outclassed by the Panthers in that series, but Woll did everything he could to keep them in it.

Fast forward to 2023-24, the first round against the Boston Bruins. Woll once again didn’t begin the series as the starter, but after a couple of bad nights for Samsonov, he came into the lineup to start Game 5. In Games 5 and 6 both of which facing elimination, Woll stopped 49 of 51 shots and helped the Leafs win both games to force a Game 7. His injury in the dying seconds of Game 6 served as a ‘what if he had played’ moment for Game 7, with the Leafs falling 2-1 in overtime to lose the series against the Bruins.

Then, as you saw the other night, he delivered his first shutout of his postseason career when the team needed him the most. Facing one of the league’s toughest teams, playing for their lives, he didn’t allow a single goal.

The biggest thing you need as a goaltender in Toronto is a strong mental game, and that’s a big reason why the tandem of Stolarz and Woll thrived so much this year. Both of them pride themselves on flushing bad performances from their memory and not letting a puck getting past them shake their mindset. They both excel at tuning everything except for what’s happening in the current moment out of their minds, and for a market like Toronto that’s exceptionally hard on goalies when they aren’t playing up to standard, having that tunnel vision is a huge advantage.

It’s going to take more than just a good game from Woll to win the series tonight. They’ll need their top guys, bottom-six guys, and defencemen to come to play as well. But at this point, all they have to do is win one game, and all the heat that’s been turned up on this club will evaporate, at least for the time being.