After two games with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies on a conditioning loan, when could Joseph Woll return to the Toronto Maple Leafs?
“We’ll see how that (game) goes and get him back maybe with us,” said Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube on Tuesday morning. “We’ll see.”
The 27-year-old appeared in his second game with the Marlies on Wednesday afternoon in a school-day game against the Grand Rapids Griffins. Woll stopped 25 of the 28 shots he faced in the game and looked strong in what was an overtime loss.
Woll couldn’t do much on the three goals that beat him, either.
Early in the game, the netminder’s athleticism was tested. Former Maple Leaf Erik Gustafsson had a chance just after the five-minute mark, but Woll was able to get across and make the stop. He looked like he hadn’t missed a beat in the net despite being away from the Maple Leafs for personal reasons.
The Griffins’ first goal was off a breakaway from Sheldon Dries, who snuck behind the Marlies’ defense. The 31-year-old bolted down on the left side before shifting to the right and putting a backhand over the shoulder of Woll. It was the Griffins’ fifth shot of the game.
Following the goal, Woll wasn’t tested much for the remainder of the first period. There was one shot that came on the Griffins’ power play late in the opening frame, which Woll made a save on, before the Marlies put pressure on Grand Rapids.
Woll faced his first shot of the second period five minutes in. Toronto then went to the penalty kill, where Woll had to come up big on a shot from Austin Watson.
After the Marlies scored two straight goals, they went to the penalty kill once again. This time, Watson capitalized on his opportunity after an Amadeus Lombardi shot deflected off Henry Thrun’s stick and bounced off Woll’s pad right to the Griffins’ forward.
Woll wasn’t tested much more until the final minutes of the second period. His best save of the day came off a Dries cross-crease shot. Woll reached across to get the blocker out to make the save, before making a few more key stops after to keep the game tied at two apiece.
The Griffins registered their most shots in the third period with 11, but Woll stopped them all. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get the win after Lombardi squeaked a shot through Woll’s five-hole in overtime.
Overall, everything from the goaltender’s movement, tracking, positioning, and speed in the crease looked strong on Wednesday afternoon. He appeared confident in the net, too, which is a positive sign after how long he was away from the Maple Leafs.
We’ll likely see him sooner rather than later in the NHL, especially after Anthony Stolarz picked up an upper-body injury (which head coach Craig Berube believes isn’t serious) in Toronto’s 5-3 loss to the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night.
Woll played a total of 96:48 in his two starts with the Marlies. He stopped 46 of the 52 shots he faced over the game-and-a-half he played, finishing his AHL conditioning with an .885 save percentage.
“I thought he looked really good,” Marlies head coach John Gruden told reporters after Woll’s first game with the club on Saturday, where he stopped 21 of 24 shots through 36:09. “I thought he played extremely well. He made some big saves when he needed to. He’s a really good goalie and a great guy.”
The Maple Leafs play on Thursday at home against the L.A. Kings before heading to Chicago for a matchup on Saturday night versus the Blackhawks.
Artemi Panarin is beginning to shake off his early season struggles.
With a newly shaven head, the star Russian wing has posted nine points — three goals and six assists — in the last four games after assisting on four goals in the Rangers’ 7-3 win over the Lightning on Wednesday night at Benchmark International Arena.
Just like that, Panarin leads the Rangers in points (16).
“I think when he’s at his best, the puck follows him around,” head coach Mike Sullivan said Wednesday after an optional morning skate. “He finds a way to have it a lot. I thought the last game he had it a lot. There are probably a number of reasons for that, but that’s what the game looks like when he’s at his best. I think he’s a threat off the rush. I think he has an uncanny ability to delay or slow the play down and allow the rush to go by him and then create opportunity. I think he’s getting better as far as supporting the play in the offensive zone. We’re trying to encourage him to be a little bit closer to his linemates, and I think he’s doing a better job there.
“I thought his line had more offensive zone time. I think that line has the ability to create offense in a number of different ways. They’re going to be dangerous off the rush because they’re talented, but they can build that grind game and they can be dangerous there also, because they’re talented. But that takes collective effort there, and that’s where we’re trying to help them. But I thought the line in general had a strong game last game.”
Artemi Panarin battles Jake Guentzel for the puck during the Rangers’ 7-3 blowout road win over the Lightning on Nov. 12, 2025.
Despite looking rather disconnected through the first few weeks of the season, Panarin has collected four multipoint games through the first 18 contests — including one three-point game and two four-point efforts.
The Rangers have a record ofare 4-0 every time Panarin has collected multiple points in a game this season.
“My confidence [is] OK now,” Panarin said after his two-goal effort on Monday against the Predators. “Better than before.”
Igor Shesterkin saved 33 of the 36 shots he faced in his sixth win of the season.
In a move he said was largely due to matchups, Sullivan shifted Will Cuylle up to play with J.T. Miller and Mika Zibanejad toward the end of the second period and through the third.
“[Lightning coach Jon Cooper] wanted that match with [Nikita] Kucherov, [Jake] Guentzel and Brayden Point,” Sullivan said. “We just felt like that’s a tall task for a young kid [Gabe Perreault] that hasn’t played a whole lot in the league. If that was going to be the match, we thought it made more sense to have a guy like Will play with J.T. and Mika in that circumstance. Some of it was just based on the feel of the game, but some of it was just from a matchup strategy standpoint.”
The Rangers signed Spencer Martin to a two-year contract Wednesday before putting the 30-year-old goalie on waivers. If he clears, Martin will be assigned to Hartford.
Appearing in nine games for the Hurricanes last season, Martin posted a 3-4-1 record with an .846 save percentage and a 3.89 goals-against average.