Joseph Woll stellar, power play sharp, Leafs shut out Devils

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The Maple Leafs left the power on before checking out for the year.

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In their final game of 2025, the Leafs beat the New Jersey Devils 4-0 at Scotiabank Arena, riding a lively power play and the goaltending of Joseph Woll for their 13th win at home.

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Woll was excellent in a 33-save performance for his first shutout of 2025-26 and third of his National Hockey League career.

The Leafs moved to within three points of the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

“Everybody was contributing and everybody was doing their job,” Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said. “It was pretty solid hockey by everybody. That’s the one thing I take from it. Everybody bought in.”

Without captain Auston Matthews and William Nylander — each is nursing a lower-body injury on a day-to-day basis — the Leafs played with conviction and confidence on their power play on Tuesday night.

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Matthews was close to playing, Berube said. Berube had no post-game update on defenceman Chris Tanev, who was to be evaluated on Tuesday after he suffered a lower-body injury in Detroit on Sunday.

Three takeaways:

All the power to you

It’s about time, isn’t it, regarding the power play.

Toronto was 12-for-90 for a success rate of 13.3% when assistant coach Marc Savard was fired on Dec. 22.

Since, the Leafs are 4-for-10, including going 1-for-3 against the Devils. And Toronto came within a skate lace of scoring a second power-play goal.

In the first period, Bobby McMann scored at 14:21 with a man advantage after Nick Robertson stopped a clearing attempt at the New Jersey blue line. Robertson quickly fed McMann, who beat New Jersey goaltender Jacob Markstrom with a quick snapshot.

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The second unit produced the Leafs’ second goal at 14:24 of the second when Nicolas Roy re-directed a McMann pass into the net. The play was started by Robertson — who was strong all night — marking the second time this season he had two assists in a game. The goal came one second after a Devils minor expired.

One difference for the Leafs with a man advantage: They’re getting inside more, making it more difficult for the opposition to defend. And the Leafs aren’t overthinking right now.

“We’re shooting the puck a little bit more,” McMann said. “Even at five-on-five, we’re shooting more. That has translated a little bit on the power play.

“We’re trying to push into the middle as much as we can.”

In turn, confidence soars.

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“When you put a few in, you gain that momentum,” McMann said. “You’re maybe not holding things as tight or worried about necessarily where your spots are. You’re more making reads rather than thinking so much. You’re more reacting.”

With the talent the Leafs have, whether Matthews or Nylander are dressed, there’s no reason to not keep the success going.

“It’s just more direct and crisper,” Berube said. “The passes are better and they’re not looking for a different option.”

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Woll, no wonder

Oasis’ 1995 hit song Wonderwall played in the arena as the teams left the ice after the second period and it was blaring in the Leafs’ dressing room after the game.

It was a nice homage to Woll, who posted his first shutout of the season.

If you’re looking for momentum changes or how a goalie can impact the game, see what Woll did in the first period. A few minutes after he made a point-blank save on Devils forward Ondrej Palat, McMann opened the scoring.

The Leafs goalie emulated Dominik Hasek a couple of times, spreading himself out in his crease to frustrate the Devils.

“Unbelievable,” Knies said. “One on the PK where he’s on his butt and he still somehow makes a save. He was unreal for us. All around, I think he was our best player.”

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The Leafs killed off three Devils power plays as well. Go figure — special teams and solid goaltending helps win hockey games.

“It’s good we didn’t let the puck in,” Woll said with a smile. “It’s my job. Shutouts are not an individual thing.

“It’s (about) how strong we played, and especially in the third period, how much we shut them down with them pulling their goalie and having a few minutes with the extra attacker. It’s a great team win.”

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Knies for fighting

About that bingo card: We didn’t have a fight between Knies and Devils captain Nico Hischier on it, and you certainly did not either.

It went down in the third period, with the bigger Knies gaining a win.

If you’re among those that think fighting in the NHL is dumb, listen to what the Leafs said it did for them.

The score was 2-0 at the time — 6:22 of the third period — and Calle Jarnkrok got the Leafs’ third goal 13 seconds later. That put the Devils out of reach of making a comeback.

Knies later scored an empty-net goal.

“I thought it was a huge impact,” Berube said of the scrap. “He took off a good player for five minutes. He’s a good player himself, but that’s the things he’s capable of doing.

“He’s a big guy that can handle himself, physical. I thought guys really fed off it. I thought we were really physical after that fight.”

Said McMann: “It fired up our whole bench. The energy you could see was evident right away.”

How did the unexpected fight go down?

“It was just a bunch of shoving back and forth to start the faceoff, and asked him and he went,” Knies said. “It was awesome to see Jarny score, awesome to be cheering in the box.”

tkoshan@postmedia.com

X: @koshtorontosun

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