The Toronto Maple Leafs finally have goaltending they can rely on in the big moments. Anthony Stolarz has been excellent after signing a two-year deal in free agency. Joseph Woll, who signed a three-year extension in the summer, has been solid ever since coming back from his injury.
Anthony Stolarz is the Number One Goalie for the Toronto Maple Leafs
Both goalies are near the top of the leaderboard in save percentage. He sits fourth with a .924 save percentage to go along with a 2.33 goals-against average. Meanwhile, Woll has a save percentage of .923 and a 2.13 goals-against average.
These two are forming one of the best tandems in the NHL. This is giving the Maple Leafs players the confidence to play the game new head coach, Craig Berube, wants them to play. The key is that the Toronto Maple Leafs just can’t rely on goaltending to win hockey games.
As TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button said on SportsCenter with Jay Onrait, goaltending was once an area of weakness for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but it is now an area of strength.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Jay Onrait: “You talk about the goaltending. Craig, Joe Woll, and Anthony Stolarz they’re both top five in the NHL in goals against and save percentage. This is a position, goaltending, that has always been the last few years so uncertain for this Leafs team. Do you consider it now an area of strength for this team?”
Craig Button: “No question. It’s an area of strength. Brad Treliving signs Joseph Woll to a long-term contract. He signs Anthony Stolarz. A little bit, I guess, what I would call is uncertainty with Joseph Woll not starting the year healthy, but since he’s gone back into the net, this is a tandem you just read off the numbers, I think this is a tandem that has no better tandem in the NHL, maybe no equal when I watched them play, and you can alternate.
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Woll plays great in Tampa Bay on Saturday, Stolarz comes back here and was terrific in the second period versus this Blackhawks team, and now I’m looking at a tandem that’s not going to be taxed to one goaltender another, and I, quite frankly, see it as very similar to what Boston deployed with Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman.
And when you look at the way the game is played, how hard it is, the traffic in and around the net, everything that goes with it. When you can have two goaltenders that are so capable and have that tandem, I think it’s just a great advantage for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and they have that now.
So the question remains for the Toronto Maple Leafs: Can they keep this up? If they can, the Leafs might have the best tandem in the NHL, and the numbers back it up.
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