4 takeaways from Leafs-Hurricanes: Woll stands tall, Rielly continues to elevate ahead of playoffs

The Toronto Maple Leafs won a game where not too many people would have been surprised had they mailed it in. Following a tight 1-0 overtime win against the playoff-hopeful Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night, the Leafs travelled to Raleigh, North Carolina, to face a strong defensive team in an early game on the second half of a back-to-back. While it looked like the Leafs would be in tough for most of the first period, being outshot by the Hurricanes 11-3 heading into the final minute of the frame, Pontus Holmberg opened the scoring with 16 seconds left in the period and the Leafs played well enough to keep their head above the water from there.

With the win, the Leafs’ magic number for winning the division dropped down to 1. They had a chance to clinch home-ice advantage and pretty much guarantee themselves a first-round tilt with the Ottawa Senators, but with the Tampa Bay Lightning defeating the Buffalo Sabres in regulation, there’s still a sliver of a chance for the seeding to change.

Here are four takeaways from the Leafs’ victory over the Hurricanes

• Based on head coach Craig Berube’s usage of Joseph Woll and counterpart Anthony Stolarz over the past month, the signs seem to point to the latter getting the start for Game 1 of the playoffs. But that’s not stopping Woll from showing his coach and teammates that, should he be called upon in the playoffs, he’s locked and loaded. Woll was excellent against the Hurricanes, standing tall in the first period as the team got hemmed in from a possession standpoint. He kept the strong play going as the Leafs extended the lead and gave him some more breathing room, stopping 25 of 26 shots and saving 3.33 goals-above-expected to give his team the win. Even if he doesn’t get the first start in the playoffs, it has to give the Leafs some serious confidence to know that they have a reliable option between the pipes, regardless of who gets the call every night.
• Morgan Rielly hasn’t had the greatest regular season, and whenever this happens, he tends to catch a little extra heat because of his contract. But at this point, the Leafs and their fans will be able to set aside their grievances if he flips a switch come playoff time, and things have been trending in that direction lately. Following a three-assist performance against the Hurricanes in which he was skating alongside Philippe Myers due to day-to-day injuries to Jake McCabe and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Rielly has 19 points in 29 games since February 1 and brought his season totals up to 41 points in 80 games. It’s below Rielly’s standards, who’s usually good for somewhere in the ballpark of 60 points when he’s at his best, but again, if he brings this offence in the playoffs and helps the Leafs to some extra success, fans will be quick to forget about any regular season grievances. After all, he finished the 2022-23 season with 41 points and was catching similar heat until the playoffs, when he popped off for four goals and 12 points in 11 games.
• If there’s one area of concern heading into the playoffs, it’s the lack of a consistent bottom-six, or heck, even a consistent bottom-nine. The top line of Matthew Knies, Auston Matthews, and Mitch Marner isn’t going anywhere, but the second line seems to still have a revolving door of left-wingers to play with John Tavares and William Nylander, and the bottom-six seems to be different every night. The Leafs’ latest makeshift third line of Pontus Holmberg, Bobby McMann, and Nick Robertson had a successful night, with a 70.1% expected-goals rating and a 70% Corsi-for percentage, but the other two lines left a lot to be desired from a puck possession standpoint. This is something the Leafs will surely want to have figured out sooner rather than later, and time is running out. There’s an argument to be made about testing out as many combinations as possible before the season ends, but it’s equally important to get your optimal lines in stone so the players can familiarize themselves as much as possible.