Maple Leafs May Have Tipped Their Hand on Which Goalie They Envision As Their Playoff Starter

The Maple Leafs have a problem that many teams must be envious of; having two goaltenders who are, on any given night, able to steal you a hockey game.

A part of the problem for the team, though, is that, while Craig Berube has been trying to alternate his goalies, he plans to only run 1 guy during the playoffs, and until now, neither of Joseph Woll or Anthony Stolarz has really, truly run away with the job.

Stolarz had a very strong run prior to suffering his knee injury, but his total body of work since coming back has been inconsistent at best.

Woll was able to shoulder the load while Stolarz was sidelined, but the overall numbers were not overly impressive -- at least not to the point where anyone would suggest that he had done enough to nail down the starting job.

Well, with the season coming to a close very soon, the Leafs do need to decide who they plan to roll with for Game 1, and right now, Woll appears to have the inside track.

The Leafs are taking on the Colorado Avalanche tonight, and after beating the Calgary Flames on Monday, Joseph Woll will see his second consecutive start on Wednesday, and Craig Berube says that he's earned it with his tremendous play after back-to-back wins.

Obviously, there's time between now and the start of the playoffs for things to change, but with how the Atlantic Division standings are stacking up, the Leafs can't afford to be dropping any points if they hope to win the division. You have to go with the hot hand, and right now, that's Joseph Woll.

Last season, we found out in the Leafs' Round 1 series against Boston that Woll should have been the starter from Game 1. Instead, the team waited for Ilya Samsonov to falter before committing to the switch.

This time around, it shouldn't surprise anyone if Woll gets the nod to begin the playoffs, and if he can play as well as he has shown that he can, the Leafs may experience a much better fate in Round 1 and beyond.