Anthony Stolarz provides edge in Maple Leafs net in Battle of Ontario
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If it starts in net for any hockey team that seeks playoff success, give the Maple Leafs an advantage over the Ottawa Senators once the first-round series gets underway.
That’s the kind of edge that Anthony Stolarz has been providing for much of the 2024-25 season, not that the Leafs often have found themselves in a spot where they’ve needed their goalie to bail them out.
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Anthony Stolarz provides edge in Maple Leafs net in Battle of Ontario Back to video
Stolarz couldn’t have had a better end to his regular season — we’re assuming he will be in backup mode on Thursday night against the Detroit Red Wings in the event that Joseph Woll starts — winning in each of his past eight starts and registering a shutout in three of his past four starts.
With just two nights remaining in the National Hockey League regular season, Stolarz was atop all netminders with a .926 save percentage, a shade better than Vezina Trophy favourite Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets at .924. The difference is that Stolarz was knocked out of the lineup for nearly two months because of a knee issue and has played in 34 games; Hellebuyck had played in 62 prior to Wednesday.
What matters most for the Leafs is the presence of the 6-foot-6, 243-pound Stolarz. If coach Craig Berube asks the Leafs’ video staff to find tape of soft goals allowed by Stolarz, they might have to file for overtime. It could take a while.
“He was lights out last year, and every time I played him, he’s been like this,” said Leafs winger Steven Lorentz, who won the Stanley Cup last spring with Stolarz and the Florida Panthers.
“He just brings it. He’s a gamer. He doesn’t take anything super seriously, and I think that’s what makes him so good. He just has to keep doing his thing, keep rolling, not change a thing.”
If it turned out that Stolarz’s last regular-season game indeed was in Buffalo on Tuesday, it was a final pre-playoff look at what we’ve come to expect from the 31-year-old. Flailing around the crease isn’t part of what he does because he’s in the right position just about every time an opposing player takes a shot.
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“I’ve seen it for a bit now, where he’s just very calm in net,” Berube said. “I talk about reading the play, tracking the puck and things like that. He’s a big guy, so if he’s capable of getting position, there’s not a lot of room there. He has played big in net.”
Stolarz will be heading into new territory when the puck drops in Game 1 of the best-of-seven, having played in just one game, in relief duty in the final last year against the Edmonton Oilers, in the Stanley Cup playoffs. His Ottawa counterpart, however, doesn’t have a long list of Cup playoff games on his resume. Linus Ullmark has played in 10, all with the Boston Bruins.
There’s no bone to pick with the Leafs’ desire to sign Stolarz in free agency last summer and seeing that come to fruition. He has been excellent, perhaps better than what the Leafs were expecting, when they got his signature on a two-year contract.
It’s the responsibility of the Stolarz to stay on the same level in the playoffs, if not ascend more. There has been no indication that he won’t do that.
HISTORY LESSONS
If you’re worried about the Sens’ dominance over the Leafs in the regular season, going 3-0-0 and outscoring the Leafs 9-3, it’s probably wasted energy.
Consider what happened in the early 2000s, when Toronto continuously had Ottawa’s number in the playoffs.
In 1999-2000, the Leafs beat the Sens once in five meetings. In the playoffs, the Leafs beat the Sens in six games in the first round.
In 2000-01, the Leafs were 0-4-1 against the Sens. Toronto swept Ottawa in four games in the first round.
In 2001-02, the Leafs won twice in five games against the Sens. In the playoffs, they beat Ottawa in seven games in the first round.
Only in 2003-04 did the Leafs dominate the Sens in the regular season, losing just once in six games. In the playoffs, Toronto won in seven games in the first round.
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LOOSE LEAFS
Berube on the Senators: “They have made a push this year to be where they’re at. They got a core group of young players that have been together for a while, and they’ve gotten over that hump and made the playoffs. They’re a very good team. Ullmark is a solid goalie, a big guy in net. It’ll be a battle.” … One area of significant improvement for the Leafs: They’ve allowed just 134 goals at five-on-five, third-fewest in the NHL after Winnipeg (118) and Los Angeles (120) before games on Wednesday. A year ago, the Leafs finished 19th in goals against at five-on-five, allowing 168. That’s on tighter structure in the defensive zone as much as it is on the goaltending of Stolarz and Woll … John Tavares needs one goal on Thursday to put him at 39 on the season, which would be his second-highest total in his 16-year NHL career. Remarkable, any way you look at it. The only season he scored more than 38 was in 2018-19, when he had 47 in his first season with Toronto.
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