Joseph Woll Excites Fans as Matthews, Maple Leafs Save Season vs. Tkachuk, Panthers

The Toronto Maple Leafs live to see another day in the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Down 3-0 and on the verge of elimination in their second-round series against the Florida Panthers, the Maple Leafs rallied for a 2-1 victory Wednesday night at FLA Live Arena to keep their title hopes alive.

After a scoreless first period, William Nylander opened the scoring on the power play at the 3:29 mark of the middle frame to put Toronto up 1-0.

The Panthers made a significant push in the third period in an attempt to tie the game, but Maple Leafs rookie netminder Joseph Woll was outstanding in the crease, stopping 24 of 25 shots in the win.

Mitch Marner went on to give the Maple Leafs a 2-0 lead at the 10:03 mark of the third on a seeing-eye shot that beat Sergei Bobrovsky.

While you can't win without scoring goals, fans on Twitter praised Woll for his series-saving performance Wednesday night:

Woll was given the nod for Game 4 after starting goaltender Ilya Samsonov was knocked out of Game 3 with an upper-body injury. Wednesday's contest was his first career NHL playoff start.

The 24-year-old, who was selected in the third round of the 2016 draft out of Boston College, appeared in seven games for the Maple Leafs during the regular season, posting a 6-1-0 record with a 2.16 goals-against average and .932 save percentage.

Given his successful track record, the Leafs may want to go with Woll as the starter for Game 5, regardless if Samsonov is healthy enough to play.

Game 5 between the Leafs and Panthers is set for Friday at Scotiabank Arena.