Woll’s 24 saves help Leafs avoid elimination in G4
SUNRISE, Fla. — There was an unintentional assist from one of the referees. There was a nearly flawless performance from a rookie goalie making his first playoff start. And there was no sense of panic.
Toronto is going home — for another game, not to start the offseason.
Joseph Woll stopped 24 shots in his first playoff start, Mitch Marner and William Nylander had the goals and the Maple Leafs staved off elimination by beating the Florida Panthers 2-1 in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series Wednesday night.
“It was a pretty awesome game to get put into,” Woll said.
Another pretty awesome chance awaits Friday, when Game 5 will be on Toronto’s ice.
Sam Reinhart scored for Florida, which got 23 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky. The Panthers still lead the series 3-1, though their franchise playoff-record six-game winning streak is now over.
“We lost a game today. That happens in the playoffs,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “We’re good. We’re OK. We get to play the next one. I think we’re all good with that. It wasn’t so fabulous a win that they’re not going to let us play the next one.”
Nylander was the beneficiary of an odd bounce for a power-play score in the second period, Marner scored midway through the third and Woll did the rest as he took the place of injured starter Ilya Samsonov.
Woll, who turns 25 on July 12, was bidding to become the youngest Toronto goalie to have a playoff shutout since Felix Potvin — then 23 — stopped 42 shots to beat Chicago 3-0 on May 9, 1995.
He was 7:47 away from pulling it off.
Reinhart — who had the OT winner in Game 3 — took a quick pass from Matthew Tkachuk and found a way to just get the puck through Woll’s leg pads for a power-play score, cutting Toronto’s lead to 2-1. The Leafs called their time-out immediately after the goal, just to calm everyone down.
“I thought we were playing a really good period to that point,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “It really was to give our guys a breath. … I didn’t have to say much.”
Woll didn’t have to do the job alone, either. Toronto blocked 21 shots as a team.
“We’re just going to keep fighting,” Leafs forward John Tavares said.
Nylander’s surname is pronounced KNEE-lander, which seemed fitting on the opening goal.
Toronto went more than five full periods — 107 minutes and 46 seconds, to be exact, going back to late in the second period of Game 2 — without a power play until Florida’s Eetu Luostarinen got called for high-sticking the Leafs’ Michael Bunting early in the second period.
And they cashed in, thanks to the hockey gods who oversee crazy bounces.
Bunting tried dumping the puck around the net from the right-wing boards, only to have it bounce off the knee of referee Jon McIsaac as he tried to get out of the way. It skipped to the front of the net, where Nylander knocked it past Bobrovsky for a 1-0 Toronto lead.
“A bit unlucky bounce, but it is what it is,” Bobrovsky said. “Again, I thought we had a good game. We compete. We fight. We played a solid defensive game. They are a good team as well, so that’s the score tonight.”
It was the first goal of the series for Toronto’s big four players of Nylander, Auston Matthews, Tavares and Marner.
“It’s not going to get easier,” Nylander said.
The score stayed 1-0 going into the third, though Toronto had a big chance to go up two in the final seconds of the second period. Tavares got loose down the center of the ice on a breakaway, but Bobrovsky knocked away his attempt to the stick side to keep Florida within one.
Marner made it 2-0 with 9:57 left, and the Leafs held on. They haven’t been swept in a playoff series since 1980 — a best-of-five against the Minnesota North Stars — and not in a best-of-seven since Montreal ousted them in four games in 1979.
“We were right there to the end,” Florida forward Sam Bennett said. “And that’s playoff hockey.”
PASASDENA, Calif. — Nico Iamaleava threw for two touchdowns and ran for three more on Saturday as UCLA notched its first win of the season in stunning fashion, knocking off No. 7 Penn State 42-37 at the Rose Bowl.
The Nittany Lions, who lost to Oregon at home last week for their first loss of the season, have suddenly dropped two straight, and could fall out of the Associated Press Top 25 after a sluggish performance that saw the Bruins (1-4) take a 27-7 lead before holding off the visitors.
Penn State (3-2) allowed more than 400 yards to a team that hadn’t held a lead all season, and is being led by interim coach Tim Skipper after DeShaun Foster was fired Sept. 14.
“It feels great. That is a valiant team and our coaches, we stuck together. Everyone counted us out, we just needed to keep going to work,” Skipper said on the CBS game broadcast. “Every single play counted today. That is a top-notch Penn State team. We kept our minds right and just continued to execute.”
The Bruins became the first 0-4 team to defeat a top-10 team since 1985, when UTEP knocked off BYU.
“Ballers always ball out,” Skipper said of Iamaleava. “He shows up every single week. I’m glad he’s on my team, I will say that.”
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David Hale
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The stands at Kenan Stadium were nearly empty long before halftime, and the fervor that surrounded the hiring of Bill Belichick at North Carolina has, in the span of just five games, devolved into exasperation and frustration after the Tar Heels looked awful yet again in a 38-10 loss to Clemson.
UNC trailed 28-3 after the first quarter, giving up 14 points on Clemson’s first four plays. The Heels are now 0-3 against Power 4 teams, having been outscored by a combined total of 120-33.
Despite the struggles, Belichick shrugged off a need for structural changes so soon into his tenure.
“The main thing we need to do is to keep doing what we’re doing but do them better,” Belichick said. “Fundamentally we’re not doing the wrong things, we’re just not doing them well enough.”
Belichick chalked up Saturday’s defeat to self-inflicted wounds at “two or three critical times” and noted that execution and coaching are to blame.
“It’s a lack of concentration,” he said, “and part of that is coaching, too, so I’ll take my share of the responsibility.”
Saturday’s implosion comes just days after a letter from GM Mike Lombardi to donors was released publicly, in which Lombardi calls this a “rebuilding” campaign for the Tar Heels and explains in detail about a dearth of talent on this year’s team due to exits from past recruiting classes.
After the loss to Clemson, Belichick downplayed the branding of a rebuild, but when asked directly what he’s telling recruits about the status of the program, he appeared to acknowledge a long-term approach.
“We’re honest with them, honest that we’re building, and if you want to be a part of a program that’s being built, then we’re here for you,” Belichick said.
That’s not the notion UNC’s players seemed to embrace after a 2-3 start.
Quarterback Max Johnson, who got his first start Saturday in place of injured Gio Lopez, said he feels UNC has enough talent, and receiver Jordan Shipp strongly pushed back against the notion this program was in need of a rebuild.
“I’m not here to rebuild, I’m here to win football games,” Shipp said. “That’s why I’m here. Whatever they’re doing with the donors, that has nothing to do with me. I’m here to win football games and that’s what 100% of my focus is on.”
Belichick said he won’t make changes in personnel based on a long-term vision of the program, despite the poor results early on.
“The guys who deserve to play are going to play,” he said. “I’m not going to base it on how old they are or whatever. Guys that play the best deserve to play. We’ll see how that goes. My expectations are to come in and have a good week this week and get ready for Cal.”
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