RICK VAIVE: A new chapter unfolds for Joseph Woll, Matthew Knies

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You have to like a textbook road win — and the kind of stories Matthew Knies and Joseph Woll made out of it on Friday.

Talk about a tale of two different nights, from Game 5 to Game 6. The Leafs had no passengers as they deadlocked the series with a 2-0 shutout. They did a great job in the defensive zone, blocking 31 shots, Joseph Woll was great and they didn’t allow any power-play goals, or try any more of those sloppy passes for plays that weren’t there.

Florida is a tough team to out-work, yet Toronto took away the middle of the ice and allowed nothing in front. How many times did Florida get a shot that resulted in a tip or a rebound? Woll was really sound in there.

It might have been the circumstances — the whole backs-to-the-wall elimination thing. It could also have been that old problem with the Leafs — playing too fancy at home in front of their fans. Once you get out of town, with fewer distractions, you certainly have the players’ attention. This close to the end of the year, everyone listens to the coach about keeping it simple.

Auston Matthews scored a big goal as everyone knows he can, Mitch Marner set it up and Max Pacioretty scored the clincher.

But there were many other leaders-by-example.

Woll’s ability is one thing — pucks just seemed to stick to him in Game 6 — but it’s his calmness that impresses me, too. He doesn’t react to unnecessary things around him, even at the end of the game when Matthew Tkachuk tried to get in his face.

He lifts his team to a point where they’re thinking: ‘I’m not going out of position, I know he’ll make the save, I’ll just worry about my job out front’.

You read Woll’s media interviews, too, or see him on camera, and he knows the right thing to say about himself or the team. I think he and Jake Oettinger in Dallas learned a lot of that when both were in the U.S. Development Program. Oettenger has said they’re good friends and that Woll is just scratching the surface of how good he can be.

Not bad for the guy who was supposed to be the backup to Anthony Stolarz in the playoffs.

There was some real inspiration provided by Knies as well after he got hurt. I’m no doctor and don’t know the nature of his injury, but that reverse hit from Niko Mikkola really slowed him. Yet he hung in there, even if he didn’t get used a ton afterwards.

As the type of player he is, a big man who can take on Florida’s best, he knows how much it means for everyone else for him stay around. It goes a long way in a game like that.

I think that because he showed coach Craig Berube that he can still contribute, he battles through the pain and plays in Game 7 on Sunday. It would be hard to take a guy like that out, he’d be a huge loss.

To duplicate everything the Leafs did right in Game 6 will be hard, but they are at home again and want to make it up to the fans for what happened in Game 5.

I’ll be at Scotiabank Arena and thinking how much they’ll fire up this city if they finally win a Game 7.

The Toronto Sun welcomes former Leafs captain and three-time 50-goal scorer Rick Vaive to our 2025 playoff coverage. He played 16 NHL and WHA seasons and is the author of Catch 22: My Battles in Hockey and Life. He can be heard on Squid and The Ultimate Leafs Fan podcast with Mike Wilson and special guests.