We’re not sure which was more impressive, the kid’s ability to lock down a 2-1 win facing elimination, or his composure in doing so.
“I’ve had a good mindset of what I want to pursue in my life, what’s important to me. And when I have that, when I have my groundwork, it’s easy to see everything that happens in life brings you closer to that. I’m just happy to be where I am,” Woll says.
“My mindset doesn't change regardless of what the situation is in the game, and that's the little game within the game I play in my mind.”
Ilya Samsonov skated Friday morning. That’s a first since leaving Sunday’s Game 3 with an upper-body injury.
The net — and all its pressures — belongs to Woll, who until Wednesday had not started a playoff game since March 23, 2019, for the Boston College Eagles.
“Confident but calm in there at all times,” Ryan O’Reilly observes. “It’s so impressive. To come in for that pressure of a game and doing what he did, only gives up one, that’s an amazing thing.”
Adds John Tavares: “You can just see the focus. His preparation, his focus, is elite.”
In attempt to shake the rookie, the Panthers vow to get more shots and more traffic Friday in Game 5.
“He was good,” Aleksander Barkov conceded. “Obviously, we could’ve had more guys at the net to make his job tougher.”