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Leafs practice notes: Woll absent from practice, Matthews takes rest, Pacioretty stays in lineup

Photo credit: Winslow Townson-Imagn Images
Apr 28, 2025, 11:40 EDTUpdated: Apr 28, 2025, 12:27 EDT
It was an eventful Monday morning for the Toronto Maple Leafs, who are looking to eliminate the Ottawa Senators in Tuesday’s Game 5. Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews was granted a rest day and David Kampf took his place in the lineup during rushes on the top line alongside Matthew Knies and Mitch Marner.
Kampf hasn’t factored into a playoff game yet, and appears to be one of the odd men out, alongside Nick Robertson for Game 3. Robertson was replaced by Max Pacioretty for Game 3, and Pacioretty continued to skate on the third line alongside Bobby McMann and Max Domi during Monday’s practice session. Robertson took Matthews’ place on Toronto’s five-forward power play unit, while Pacioretty took reps with the second unit.
Joseph Woll was absent from Monday’s practice due to illness. Anthony Stolarz has started all four games during the playoff series thus far, and appears to be the projected starter for Game 5. Woll posted a 27-14-1 record with a .909 save percentage during the regular season and effectively worked as the team’s unquestioned starter when Stolarz missed nearly two months due to injury from December-February.
Pontus Holmberg remained on the second line with John Tavares and William Nylander. The 26-year-old hasn’t recorded a point in the series, while Nylander has registered a goal and six points and Tavares recorded three goals and five points thus far.
“There’s a lot of good in that game,” Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said Sunday about his team’s effort during a 4-3 loss to the Senators in Game 4. “I thought it was a real good hockey game to be honest with you, and I thought we played extremely well. There’s always things you can improve upon. Finishing, there are some opportunities where we could’ve finished on the power play. We had a couple of good opportunities.”
Although Matthews and Woll were both absent from practice, it appears likely that the Maple Leafs will be running back the same lineup from Game 4.
Maple Leafs’ projected lineup vs. Senators
Matthew Knies-Auston Matthews-Mitch Marner
Pontus Holmberg-John Tavares-William Nylander
Bobby McMann-Max Domi-Max Pacioretty
Steven Lorentz-Scott Laughton-Calle Jarnkrok
Jake McCabe-Chris Tanev
Morgan Rielly-Brandon Carlo
Simon Benoit-Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Anthony Stolarz (projected starter)
Joseph Woll
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