Leafs Win Big but Lose Joseph Woll to Concerning Injury
So here’s what’s been happening in Toronto’s latest matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes — a game that looked like another confident step in the Maple Leafs’ recent surge, but also delivered a gut punch that no fan wanted to see.
The Leafs walked away with a convincing 5–1 victory, stretching their winning streak to three games and improving their run to four wins over their last five. But the celebration was muted almost immediately, because starting goaltender Joseph Woll didn’t come back out for the third period. It was announced that he was dealing with a lower-body injury, and the exact moment it happened wasn’t made clear. TSN’s broadcast even showed him stretching out his left leg earlier, which now feels like the first sign that something wasn’t right.
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Woll had been solid through the opening 40 minutes, and considering Toronto’s complicated goalie situation, losing him — even temporarily — is far from ideal. Anthony Stolarz is already sidelined indefinitely with an upper-body injury, so the Leafs are suddenly navigating a very thin crease. In Woll’s absence, Dennis Hildeby was called on to finish the night, and he handled it calmly, turning away all nine Hurricanes shots that came his way in the third period.
Before the injury storyline took over the headlines, Toronto actually played one of their cleaner, more decisive games of the season. Bobby McMann set the tone right away, scoring just 53 seconds into the game on the Leafs’ very first shot. Scott Laughton followed up later in the period to make it 2–0, and even though Carolina cut the lead in half thanks to Seth Jarvis, Toronto never really let control slip.
Matthew Knies restored the two-goal cushion early in the second, finishing off a slick backhander. Then Auston Matthews — who just keeps finding pockets of space — snapped one home to make it 4–1. That goal marked his 11th of the season, and it felt like the moment the Hurricanes finally ran out of push. McMann later added an empty-netter to close out the scoring.
Carolina, playing their fourth game of a long homestand, never quite found their rhythm despite coming in with two straight wins. Frederik Andersen stopped 18 shots, but the Hurricanes couldn’t generate much in the way of sustained pressure after the opening period.
So the Leafs get another win, their confidence grows, and their offense continues firing from all angles — but everything now hangs on an unwelcome question: how serious is Joseph Woll’s injury? With their goaltending depth already stretched thin, the answer is going to matter a lot in the coming days.
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