Joseph Woll, William Nylander secure Maple Leafs needed win

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On a night three new Maple Leafs were welcomed back, it was a wild, Willy and Woll finish, a huge 2-1 overtime win in Columbus.

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Joseph Woll’s 35 saves kept the Leafs in a game that was scoreless until just 6:30 remained before Zach Werenski clicked for the Blue Jackets on their 28th shot. William Nylander set up Easton Cowan’s tying marker with 3:17 to play then won it himself late in the extra period.

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After stepping on the ice to replace an exhausted Matthew Knies in overtime, Nylander scooped up a loose puck to the left of Greaves, calmly moved to his right, waited for the Columbus ’keeper to move out of position, then put a wrist shot back into the vacated left side of the net.

It was just the Leafs second victory in the past nine games (2-5-2) getting them out of last place in the Eastern Conference with the Buffalo Sabres’ loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

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For three returning Leafs who’ve been badly missed — Auston Matthews, Knies and Nicolas Roy — it was a difficult game to navigate with many icings, offsides and stoppages, with three first-period penalties against their club.

Cue Woll, whose work included a 3-on-1 short-handed save on Miles Wood and six regulation shots by Werenski and Adam Fantilli, who’ve been poison to the Leafs in tandem. The Jackets were going for a three-game series sweep. Woll keeps solidifying his hold on the No. 1 position with Anthony Stolarz’s injury still holding him off the ice. Jet Greaves was also sharp for the Jackets until the end.

But a Toronto team that held the opposition to two or less goals only twice since Oct. 16 made it to the third period without allowing one.

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Crucial win in tight Eastern Conference

They came into the game last and though it’s the tightest the East has been at this point in November since 2022, the Leafs still have a lot of catch-up hockey ahead. With U.S. Thanksgiving marking a playoff embarkation line in past years with 75% of spots decided, they must keep it up on the road for another four games on their longest trip.

Toronto caught a break on what would’ve been Columbus’ game-opening goal by the ever-speedy Werenski early in the middle period. The Leafs’ video crew spotted Kent Johnson a touch offside, which also bailed out Oliver Ekman-Larsson from an unsuccessful pinch that set up the odd-man rush.

The referees quickly wrote themselves into the storyline with those early calls on Ekman-Larsson, Dakota Mermis and Roy, respectively, the first two that could have seen a couple of Jackets go off as well. But Toronto survived the scoreless frame, Matthews hitting the post, Knies just missing the empty-net rebound and a couple of other chances for him on Greaves’s doorstep.

Coach Craig Berube chose Max Domi to play left wing with Matthews and Knies in a bid to get Domi untracked as well. That meant John Tavares, Nylander and rookie Cowan had the first-line pressure alleviated.

Lhornby@postmedia.com 

X: @sunhornby

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