Toronto goaltender Joseph Woll could make his first start of the season Tuesday night when the Maple Leafs visit the Columbus Blue Jackets.
“It’s possible, yes,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said on Monday before the Leafs’ 5-2 victory over the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning.
Woll has missed the first six games of the season due to groin tightness.
Anthony Stolarz made his fifth start of the season on Monday and stopped 32 shots in the victory over the Lightning.
Stolarz made some important saves when the Lightning, trying to mount a comeback, had a five-on-three power play during the second period. He also made a quick, long pass to help set up a power-play goal by Auston Matthews in the second period that gave Toronto a 2-1 lead — the first of four straight goals scored by the Leafs in the period.
He was even good when the Lightning did score. He stopped Nicholas Paul but sliding Toronto defenseman Simon Benoit knocked the puck into the goal to tie the game at 1-1 in the first.
“You don’t even think about it,” Stolarz said. “Part of the game, it’s going to happen. Benny’s just trying to make an effort there. As a goalie, you forget it and just worry about the next shot.”
Dennis Hildeby has made the other start in goal for Toronto, and he could be an option on Tuesday if Woll does not play.
After completing a 3-1-0 homestand on Monday, Toronto will play five of its next seven on the road.
“We’ve been at home a lot,” Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly said. “It’s good to have some breaks between games and practice time, but the guys want to get playing and get prepared for that tougher part of the schedule.”
Columbus will be intent on having a good start Tuesday night in the hopes of concluding a four-game homestand with a split.
The Blue Jackets lamented a sluggish first period in a 3-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Saturday. Columbus trailed only 1-0 after the opening period but never recovered and allowed two more goals in the third before finally finding the net in the last two minutes.
“It’s on all of us,” Columbus coach Dean Evason said. “If we’re not ready to play, it’s on me, it’s on the coaches, it’s on the players. There was one guy ready to go, and that was our goaltender (Daniil Tarasov). …
“First time, right? It’s one period, but we’ve got to catch it right now. Second period was good, but it’s not enough. You have to start correctly, and we have to find a way to do that as a coaching staff and as a team.”
Tarasov made 31 saves in the loss.
“We didn’t start on time,” Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski said. “If it wasn’t for (Tarasov), it could have been a lot worse in the first period.
“We have to give a better effort. We have a standard now of how we have to play. We’ve done that for four games, and (Saturday) we weren’t there. We’re going to learn from it and we’re going to move on. We’re not going to let it happen again.”
Columbus could not take advantage of a four-minute power play during the second period against Minnesota.
“It doesn’t matter who we’re playing, we should be able to score on a four-minute power play,” Blue Jackets center Adam Fantilli said.
The Blue Jackets were without five injured players against the Wild: Boone Jenner (shoulder) and Kent Johnson, Dmitri Voronkov, Erik Gudbranson and goaltender Elvis Merzlikins (all with upper-body injuries).
–Field Level Media
