TORONTO – Joseph Woll didn’t expect to be in this position.

The Maple Leafs goaltender — like the rest of his teammates — thought the Original Six club would be in the thick of a playoff race down the stretch.

Toronto’s season all but lost after a disastrous stretch coming out of the Olympic break, Woll is doing what he can to build his game over the final weeks of a season that went completely off the rails.

Woll made 32 saves in Friday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, including some huge stops against the relentless Eastern Conference leaders, but was beaten on a penalty shot and short-handed breakaway before Alexander Nikishin ripped a puck home in the extra period.

The 27-year-old from Dardenne Prairie, Mo., who was away from the Maple Leafs for an extended period due to a “personal family matter” back in the fall, is 1-3-1 over his last five starts with a .914 save percentage for the disappointing Maple Leafs (29-28-13).

“Whether something’s positive or negative, it’s always a learning experience,” he said. “I’m just trying to stick to my process, but learn how to adjust it as necessary.”

Maple Leafs centre John Tavares said Woll has remained steadfast in his approach and preparation.

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“You want your game to be your game,” said the 35-year-old, who scored his 24th goal of a lost campaign Friday. “You want to keep building and contributing to the team and help us get better results, and feel good about what we’re trying to work through and try to build some momentum.

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“(Woll) doesn’t try to change a whole lot and continuously works at things … it’s maybe not always just overnight, but you start to build things, and your game starts to come together. Giving us great opportunities to win games.”

Maple Leafs centre Benoit-Olivier Groux, making the most of his call-up from the American Hockey League with five points in six NHL games, said the netminder has given the group a chance.

“He’s been unreal,” Groulx said. “I’ve watched pretty much all the games this season. He’s been really good throughout the season. He’s really dialed in off the ice, he does every little thing right.”

Toronto head coach Craig Berube said Woll, who dropped to 14-13-5 in 2025-26 and has got call in five of the team’s last six games over crease mate Anthony Stolarz, can get to another level.

“(Against the Hurricanes) we need a save,” Berube said. “Whether it’s (in) OT or it’s one of the breakaways, just need a big save there.”

Woll, meanwhile, will look at Friday’s tape with goaltending coach Curtis Sanford, especially Eric Robinson’s penalty shot and K’Andre Miller’s short-handed effort, but is fine with his recent performances.

“Just hoping to play as much as I can and do whatever I can to help the team win,” he said. “And with that, learn as much as possible.”

PLAYING OUT THE STRING

Tavares is one goal shy of becoming the fourth active player with at least 25 or more in 14 seasons behind only Alex Ovechkin (20), Sidney Crosby (16) and Steven Stamkos (15).

The veteran forward was asked about his approach with Toronto languishing near the bottom of the standings.

“You’re getting an opportunity to play in the National Hockey League … you never take it for granted,” Tavares said. “You want to go out there and play well. It’s obviously been tough sledding.”

TAKING HIS CHANCE

Selected with the 54th pick at the 2018 draft by the Anaheim Ducks, Groulx now has three goals and two assists with the Maple Leafs.

The 26-year-old had just one goal and five points in 65 games across parts of three seasons with Anaheim before signing with Toronto last summer.

“I’m approaching it pretty well, with a lot of confidence,” Groulx, who put up 50 points in 54 AHL games in 2025-26, said of his time with the Maple Leafs. “I know what I can do at this level, and I think I’m showing it.”

Tavares said Groulx’s hockey IQ serves him well.

“A real good sense of where to be and getting the puck in good spots,” he said. “Not trying to overcomplicate things, just take the plays that are there. He’s got some good legs and a really good release.

“He’s capitalizing on the opportunity here.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 21, 2026.

&copy 2026 The Canadian Press

TORONTO – Craig Berube read his players the riot act after a delayed response to a dirty hit that ultimately ended their captain’s season.

The Maple Leafs are playing out the string in a campaign that started with Stanley Cup talk. The team is now at least making a point of sticking up for each other — even if it’s too little, too late in the standings.

Morgan Rielly dropped the gloves to add to a handful of career NHL fights in Tuesday’s 3-1 loss to the New York Islanders after goaltender Joseph Woll was bumped. The bout followed a pair of hard-fought road games on the heels of star centre Auston Matthews being felled by a knee-on-knee hit from Anaheim Ducks defenceman Radko Gudas last week.

The four other Toronto skaters on the ice Thursday didn’t act in the immediate aftermath of that headline-grabbing altercation, but came out hard for the third period, including the first professional fight from rookie winger Easton Cowan, in what ended as a 6-4 comeback victory.

Toronto then lost to the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 in a Saturday shootout that saw blueliner Oliver Ekman-Larsson get angry and defend Woll before a stick-together 4-2 victory over the Wild in Minnesota on a back-to-back.

The Maple Leafs, however, were torched by media, fans and even players from other teams, namely Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk on his podcast with brother Matthew of the Florida Panthers, in the interim for not doing anything with Matthews lying on the ice in agony.

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Rielly took responsibility for not immediately stepping up against Gudas, who was suspended five games for a hit that resulted in a torn MCL in Matthews’ left knee.

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“It’s everybody,” said Berube, the Maple Leafs head coach. “They all should have been in there right away. But I think that they’ve obviously learned from it, and it’s a difference now.”

The veteran defenceman didn’t blink Tuesday following a sequence that was far less severe, going toe-to-toe with Islanders centre Kyle MacLean in the second period.

“Something that we’ve talked about in the past,” said Rielly, who was assessed an extra two-minute penalty for cross-checking. “And we’ve talked about recently.”

Berube has seen a different mentality from the club since Matthews went down.

“It’s a great job by him getting in there and sticking up for Joseph,” he added of Rielly. “That message has got across.”

Berube said following the morning skate that the injury and subsequent lack of response was a “wake-up call” for his group.

But why did it take losing Toronto’s former 69-goal man to get those juices flowing?

“It’s a good question,” Woll said. “The past few days, past few games have been really great seeing our team do that. From the time I’ve been here, I feel like we’ve had guys that stand up for our teammates, and that hasn’t been an issue.

“Everyone really cares a lot about each other in this room.”

Maple Leafs forward Steven Lorentz, who scored his team’s only goal Tuesday, commended Rielly’s efforts Tuesday.

“Having each other’s back has been a big part of the talks pre-game,” he said. “Making sure we’re connected out there as a group.”

He added the players are also aware of what’s been said since Matthews saw his season end.

“We’d be lying if we said we don’t hear it,” Lorentz explained. “Sometimes it takes a talk from the coach, a little bit of yelling for the guys to wake up and figure it out. We had a lot of sit-down talks, and we looked in the mirror a little bit to get to this spot that we’ve played these past few games.

“It hasn’t been consistent enough, and it’s been nice to see these past few games. It’s not about going out there and fighting, but if a guy takes a run at a guy on your team, it’s about having the liberty to stick up.”

BABY DUTY

Ekman-Larsson returned to the lineup after missing Sunday’s game in Minnesota and Tuesday’s morning skate to be wife, Maja, who delivered their second child — and second boy — on Monday.

“Not a lot of sleep, but it’s been great,” said Ekman-Larsson, who played a game-high 25:06 against New York. “Wifey had been battling, and some tough nights, but she’s been unbelievable.”

TAKING HIS CHANCE

Maple Leafs winger Benoit-Oliver Groulx created the turnover that led to Lorentz’s breakthrough in the second. The 26-year-old has four points, including three goals, in five games since being called up from the American Hockey League.

“Done a lot of good things,” Berube said. “Not just the points and the goals, it’s the other side of the game … he’s very smart and in position, does a good job. He’s played extremely well.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2026.

&copy 2026 The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER – Bobby McMann knew things would feel a little different on Saturday night.

Playing his first game in a Seattle Kraken jersey, the former Toronto Maple Leafs forward wanted to make an impact with his new team.

“It almost resembles, in a way, your first game,” he said. “You’ve got an entirely new group, new organization, new fans. You want to make a great first impression.”

McMann made a great impression on the score sheet, tallying two goals and an assist as the Kraken (30-26-9) thumped the Vancouver Canucks 5-2.

“Sometimes things go your way a little bit more than other nights and, luckily, that was tonight for me,” he said.

“That was a fun one. It’s always nice to get the win, and then when you contribute, it makes it that much better.”

Seattle acquired the 29-year-old athlete from Toronto ahead of the NHL’s trade deadline on March 6 in exchange for a fourth-round pick in the 2026 draft and a conditional second-round selection in 2027.

It was a sizable change for McMann, who went undrafted before signing with the Maple Leaves as a free agent in April 2022.

He played 199 regular-season games for Toronto, amassing 52 goals and 36 assists, and added another three assists over 13 playoff appearances in last season.

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Saturday marked McMann’s first game since March 2. The Leafs opted to sit him ahead of the deadline and, after the trade, the native of Wainwright, Alta., waited a full week for his work visa before finally slotting into the Kraken’s lineup on Saturday.

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The new addition was quick to make an impact.

McMann’s first of the night — and 20th of the season — came 19:10 into the first period when he beat Vancouver netminder Nikita Tolopilo with a sharp-angle shot on a power play.

“I thought (Shane Wright) tipped it maybe because I didn’t know if that one was going in with the shot that I had,” he said. “So it was more of a pass to him, but I think it just fooled the goalie because I think he just missed it kind of thing, and trickled in.”

He added another tally early in the third, becoming the first player to score multiple goals in his debut for the Kraken.

McMann added speed to Seattle’s top line, which also includes centre Matty Beniers and captain Jordan Eberle, said head coach Lane Lambert.

“You saw it right away, first shift when he’s tracking the puck and he’s got a ton of speed and it’s a welcome addition for us from that standpoint,” he said. “Obviously the goals he scored, he had a real good chance to make it three as well. I think it went off the knob of the goalie there. But he played well.”

It’s not only the six-foot-two forward’s speed that helps, said Beniers, but his physicality, too.

And Saturday was just the beginning, he added.

“As time goes on, you play more and more with a guy, you start to realize their tendencies, where they go on the ice, what they like to do with the puck,” Beniers said. “So, you keep learning but pretty good start.”

SKID SNAPPED

The result snapped Seattle’s four-game losing skid and moved the Kraken to within one point of the Western Conference’s second wild-card playoff spot.

The stretch of losses was tough to take for a team that’s hoping to contend this post-season, said winger Jared McCann.

“It’s hard to get out of, I feel like, especially when you have times where you’re playing great and you’re still losing,” he said. “I think that’s the most frustrating part. But it’s a long season, you’re going to have ups and downs. You just got to try to stay level headed.

“I think when we were losing, the pressure was building, and we had a good talk before the game tonight, just kind of play a little more free and create with the puck, and it was able to show tonight.”

O’CONNOR’S 100TH

Canucks winger Drew O’Connor recorded an assist on Evander Kane’s first-period goal, marking the 100th point of his NHL career.

The 27-year-old American forward said the milestone is a special one.

“I mean, if you told me 10 years ago I’d have one point in the NHL, I’d be happy,” he said. “So to get to 100 is meaningful.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 15, 2026.

&copy 2026 The Canadian Press