Leaf Takeaway: Matthews, Marner, Woll appears

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Just as the Maple Leafs eliminated south in their season, they pointed it north in Game 7.

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They weren’t ready for prime time players before – Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner – won the first goal of the game Friday night at Florida Sunrise, but it was a real group effort by Joseph Woll to pin the GPS with a 2-0 victory, winning a 2-0 victory at Scotiabibank entaa.

Our winning harvest at Amerant Bank Arena.

Come in from the cold

Matthews and Manner scored easily in the regular season, but denied them in many playoff games, when heavy enemies such as Florida closed the puck.

Early in the third phase of the 0-0 game, Marner’s interception at Blueline in the Panthers led to a quick pass in a five-hole dart by former Rockets Awards champion Matthews, who entered the .982 rescue percentage on Friday.

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“He’s a special player, your best player rises up the occasion,” Wall told the media at sunrise.

Matthews not only thanked them for not only turning the conversation from his 13 games to everyone around Woll and his injured first-line left winger Matthew Knies, a playoff goal against Florida.

“The brave victory is to keep our season alive, and the brave victory won the victory,” he said. “Breakthrough is late and play a solid defense to end it. It’s great to see this (target), but the work is not done yet.”

Max Pacioretty, who added insurance targets, called Matthews’ tagged “incredible shots from incredible players”, noting that as tensions get more intense, no one on either side wants to get bored of the chances of the third cycle.

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“That’s why he’s our captain,” Pacioretty said. “(Suppressure) didn’t bother them tonight. They played a great game. Everyone wanted to talk about their goals and points, but what I thought of was that they won the hockey battle and insisted on fighting to win.

“They brought a lot to a team and showed it tonight.”

Marner, his last game as Leaf, now gives at least 48 hours of probation, has maintained a Zen-like attitude since a horrible game, highlighting his playoff dilemma since 2018.

“We knew we weren’t going to get a lot of looks, and the thing we like was just being patient with our game,” Mana said. “We had a few major (finished) killings that started.”

On Matthews’ topic, Manner praised him for not allowing outside forces to enter the kitchen because his playoff lows were torn apart.

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“That’s what you love to see,” Mana said. “There is a lot of trust in that room.”

The knife needs to be restored

Don’t expect secret coach Craig Berube to reveal anything in the Cavaliers’ low injury, which put him in pain on the bench between shifts.

It seems his hip or thigh was hit in the worst reverse in the first stage by 6-foot-6-foot-6-foot-6-foot-6-foot-6-foot-five-defensive Niko Mikkola. But the second stage Knight is back and keeps talking to Berube to make sure he can make a limited turn. The coach moved Pacioretty or Bobby McMann to the left wing point of the top line.

Unlike a few of the lower six forwards who had been in and out, Calle Jarnkrok and Pontus Holmberg returned to Game 6 after a night of rest for David Kampf and Nick Robertson – Power forward Knies would be a huge loss.

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Beruber said he could not answer whether the Knights were broadcasting on Sunday. Leaves stay overnight in Florida.

“If he could go, I used him in the situation and understood where he was,” Beruber said.

The wolf is loud

From five-pitched hooks in Game 5 to 22 saves and his first playoff closing ceremony, Wall has begun to finish the series even as Anthony Stolarz has done a miracle from a suspected head injury.

Again, the knockout has become the old hat of St. Louis native Woll, who has a 4-1 record and a 0.958 savings percentage in such a game, beat Florida twice to a 2023 victory, twice against Boston’s Leaf Extension last spring.

“We don’t worry about him for a second,” McMahon insisted. “He was solid until the puck, no rebounds, gliding in the back door, and he was everywhere tonight.”

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Now, this is Woll’s game 7 chance, and it turns out to be the Witch moment of Toronto’s playoff hope. James Reimer, Frederik Andersen, Jack Campbell and Ilya Samsonov all lost at least once in this case.

Until Friday, the Leaves hadn’t enjoyed the second round closing ceremony since Curtis Joseph’s 2002 match against the Ottawa Senator.

“(Game 5) is just a game. You play a lot of games, and that’s a skill in itself,” Wall said staying positive. “A lot of work is where you are. You have to get out of your way, and that’s what I learned. It’s what the best competitors can do, just let it go through them.

“My biggest thing now is my confidence in our group.”

lhornby@postmedia.com

X: @sunhornby

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