The Toronto Maple Leafs won their second game in a row coming off of arguably their best effort of the season against the Calgary Flames on Monday, defeating the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 to split the season series against the Western Conference juggernauts.

Typically a 2-1 game is an indicator that the game was a goalie battle, and that was largely the case on Wednesday night. Goaltender Joseph Woll got the nod for the second day in a row after getting an extra vote of confidence from head coach Craig Berube, and to say Woll delivered was an understatement. He stopped 38 of 39 shots and made a number of crucial saves to keep his team in it when the Avalanche pressed, especially near the end of the game. Berube reiterated his confidence in Woll when addressing the media following the game.

“He was excellent,” Berube said. “Made some real good saves, held us in there in the first period, I think we were on our toes in the first period, looked like we were a little tentative, not aggressive enough, kind of watching them move around and skate.”

Although tandem partner Anthony Stolarz has exceeded expectations since the team brought him in on a two-year contract, Woll has the benefit of playoff experience working in his favour, and despite the small sample size, his excellent performance in Games 5 and 6 against Boston in last season’s first round will be taken into account when deciding who to start in this year’s playoffs. That said, Berube implied that it was too early to make that call.

“The last three games, he’s been really good. We’ll figure all of that out.”

Steven Lorentz, who scored the game-winning goal off of what might be the flukiest bounce of the season, reiterated how much Woll’s performance helped the team stay in the game against a dangerous Avalanche squad.

“His resilience is huge, we always trust both of our goalies,” Lorentz beamed. “Woller, I just said in a different interview, he probably saw seven or eight minutes of their top six in the last ten, he just stood on his head, he looked calm and cool, kept pucks in front of him, wasn’t trying to make spectacular flashy saves, so he did a great job.”

The Leafs have struggled in the past with not being able to trust both of their goaltenders. The only Leafs team Lorentz has ever known is the one with two reliable goalies in net, and he knows how valuable it is to have a guy you can trust between the pipes.

“It’s huge, it allows you to play a little more freely in your own end,” Lorentz continued. “You don’t have to worry about, if you kind of get exposed, the puck might end up in the back of your net. It allows you to play a little more aggressively.”

The biggest thing about being a successful goaltender, especially in a market with as much scrutiny as Toronto, is the mental game. You can’t let little things shake you up, and captain Auston Matthews said that Woll’s ability to remain calm and collected regardless of how the game is going is what makes him such a good goaltender.

“It doesn’t really matter what’s going on in the game,” Matthews explained. “He could be playing good, he could be playing bad, I find he’s always got the same attitude and the same mentality. Approaches things the same every night, he’s extremely focused. I thought, tonight, he was excellent for us.”

Woll, humble as always, gave the majority of his props to the team in front of him for the performance but made sure to note that he felt great about where his game was on Wednesday night.

“I think it was solid all the way through,” Woll said in regards to his own game. “I preach it all the time, but I stick to my process, I thought it was a great team win for us, we did a great job of locking it down after the go-ahead goal, they’re a good team over there. Big win for us.”

The Maple Leafs will be right back at it on Thursday night when they visit the New York Rangers, with Anthony Stolarz projected to get the start.