<p>The Toronto Maple Leafs have swept the season series against the Edmonton Oilers, despite making life as hard on themselves as possible to do so.</p>
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<p>After the Maple Leafs defeated the Oilers 4-3 in overtime back in November, they managed to take two points from their former North Division rivals and sweep their two matchups with a 4-3 win in regulation. One could argue that the Leafs deserved to be down 7-3 as opposed to up 4-3, having been outshot 48-28 after pouncing on the Oilers early and often, but on the other hand, how many games have the Leafs outshot their opponent by a large margin in only to lose on a couple of soft goals? At the end of the day, take the two points and run.</p>
<p>Now, just because the Leafs as a team may not have deserved the win, that doesn&#8217;t mean they didn&#8217;t have individual players who deserved it. In fact, it would be criminal to group Joseph Woll in with the rest of the team when talking about them in that context. Woll stopped 45 of 48 shots for the .938 save percentage and made several saves that kept the Leafs in the game, but none more dramatic or crucial than the two saves at the final buzzer to rob Evan Bouchard and Corey Perry, respectively, of the game-tying goal.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">ARE YOU KIDDING ME JOSEPH!!!!! 🧱 <a href="https://t.co/FLZChzlwrw">pic.twitter.com/FLZChzlwrw</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) <a href="https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1885883528405201236?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 2, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>It&#8217;s one thing to stay calm between the pipes, keep your head above the water when the opponent is peppering you with shots, and give your team a presence they can feel confident playing in front of. It&#8217;s another thing to do that and close out the game with what will undoubtedly be a save-of-the-year candidate when all is said and done. And, if there was any surprise, Woll&#8217;s performance was backed up by analytics as well.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Joseph Woll saved 2.08 goals above expected in all situations via Natural Stat Trick. Outstanding performance, countless great saves, including the game-saver at the end. <a href="https://t.co/OgRl1bcqBG">https://t.co/OgRl1bcqBG</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Arun Srinivasan (@Arunthings) <a href="https://twitter.com/Arunthings/status/1885884047097774516?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 2, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>The Leafs&#8217; power play deserves some credit for making the most of their opportunities early on, scoring on both opportunities courtesy of Matthew Knies and Bobby McMann. The Leafs&#8217; roster is skilled enough that their offence shouldn&#8217;t have dried up to the degree it did despite not having Knies and John Tavares in the lineup, but there&#8217;s no doubt that missing two players on a 30-goal pace will hurt you and prevent you from playing to your full potential, and having both players back tonight proved that.</p>
<p>The Leafs will be back in action on Tuesday night when they visit the Calgary Flames to complete their trip through Alberta.</p>
<p><strong>Sponsored by bet365</strong></p>
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The Toronto Maple Leafs have swept the season series against the Edmonton Oilers, despite making life as hard on themselves as possible to do so.
<div class="bam-inline-promotion-block" data-max-length="2" data-placement-id="2106" data-context="web-content-promocard" data-property-id="324"></div>
After the Maple Leafs defeated the Oilers 4-3 in overtime back in November, they managed to take two points from their former North Division rivals and sweep their two matchups with a 4-3 win in regulation. One could argue that the Leafs deserved to be down 7-3 as opposed to up 4-3, having been outshot 48-28 after pouncing on the Oilers early and often, but on the other hand, how many games have the Leafs outshot their opponent by a large margin in only to lose on a couple of soft goals? At the end of the day, take the two points and run.

Now, just because the Leafs as a team may not have deserved the win, that doesn't mean they didn't have individual players who deserved it. In fact, it would be criminal to group Joseph Woll in with the rest of the team when talking about them in that context. Woll stopped 45 of 48 shots for the .938 save percentage and made several saves that kept the Leafs in the game, but none more dramatic or crucial than the two saves at the final buzzer to rob Evan Bouchard and Corey Perry, respectively, of the game-tying goal.

https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1885883528405201236

It's one thing to stay calm between the pipes, keep your head above the water when the opponent is peppering you with shots, and give your team a presence they can feel confident playing in front of. It's another thing to do that and close out the game with what will undoubtedly be a save-of-the-year candidate when all is said and done. And, if there was any surprise, Woll's performance was backed up by analytics as well.

https://twitter.com/Arunthings/status/1885884047097774516

The Leafs' power play deserves some credit for making the most of their opportunities early on, scoring on both opportunities courtesy of Matthew Knies and Bobby McMann. The Leafs' roster is skilled enough that their offence shouldn't have dried up to the degree it did despite not having Knies and John Tavares in the lineup, but there's no doubt that missing two players on a 30-goal pace will hurt you and prevent you from playing to your full potential, and having both players back tonight proved that.

The Leafs will be back in action on Tuesday night when they visit the Calgary Flames to complete their trip through Alberta.

<strong>Sponsored by bet365</strong>
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