Overtime thoughts

For a team to make it far into the playoffs, many things have to happen at the right time. We have often seen a team ride a hot power play to advance to the next round or even a series where bottom-six forwards outscore other teams’ top six. If a team wants any chance at making a deep run in the postseason without the reasons I’ve just mentioned, their goalie needs to be hot heading into playoffs.

We saw a prime example of goalies getting hot at the right time with the 2023-24 Florida Panthers. For most of the season, the Panthers rode their Vezina-winning goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, starting him in 50 games. Approaching playoffs, with goalie Bobrovsky struggling, Head Coach Paul Maurice gave his backup goaltender, Alex Lyon, more starts, and he was phenomenal. Paul Maurice stuck with Lyon to start the Playoffs since he was the hotter goalie, and they took a three nothing lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning. When the Panthers lost game four, Maurice chose to put Bobrovsky back in the net, and he ended up being their best player, taking them to the Stanley Cup finals, where they eventually lost to the Vegas Golden Knights.

As of Friday, March 28, 2024, with 10 games left in the season, the Toronto Maple Leafs are currently sitting at the top of the Atlantic Division, 1 point ahead of both the Panthers and the Lightning, with both goaltenders having struggles. For the first 40 games of the season, the goaltending position was considered one of their strengths, with goaltender Anthony Stolarz being neck and neck with statistically the best goaltender in the league, Connor Hellebuyck, in save percentage. Stolarz had to have surgery to remove something they described as a small round mass in his knee, and since coming back from injury, he has not looked the same. In his last seven games, his save percentage has slid down to .885, which is way below average for NHL starters.

On the other hand, Joseph Woll, a young goaltender who has all the tools to be a great goalie in the NHL, always seems to run into injury problems or inconsistency when the Leafs need him the most. There have been many opportunities over the last two years where the team gave him a chance to take full control of that starting position, but his history of injury has caused him problems. Head coach Craig Berube has said in the past that he does not believe in using a goalie tandem in the postseason, but has recently been telling the media how much he has liked his goalies alternating. Berube will have to decide on who his starter is in the next few weeks, just like he did when he won the Stanley Cup with the Blues in 2019, when he rode Jordan Binnington all the way.

On a positive note, the Leafs’ top forwards are heating up at the perfect time. Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews, John Tavares, and William Nylander have combined for 55 points in the last 10 games, thanks to their power-play unit clicking at around 40 percent since coming back from the Four Nations break.