Grateful Maple Leafs won't rule out goalie Anthony Stolarz for Game 2

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Craig Berube holds no medical degree, but the coach was keeping doctor-patient confidentiality regarding Anthony Stolarz’s availability for Game 2.

While he gave a generally positive diagnosis after all that befell Stolarz on Monday — a Sam Reinhart shot square on the mask, Sam Bennett’s elbow to his head, vomiting at the bench and being taken to hospital on a stretcher for concussion evaluation — the goalie was able to take breakfast with some Leafs teammates.

Berube wouldn’t rule him playing Wednesday.

“We’ll see. He’s doing well, he’s here,” Berube said at the Ford Centre practice rink optional skate.

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It does seem hasty to think Stolarz could jump back in so quick, given the variables of head trauma and the Leafs’ usual caution with any injuries to top players. But this is the playoffs and he won’t likely give up the crease to Joseph Woll unless over-ruled by the staff.

“I’ll probably find out today,” Berube said of whether he clears Stolarz.

Given Woll came in cold and made four saves right away, he should get some slack for giving up three goals on 20 shots as the Panthers almost made a three-goal Toronto lead disappear.

Unlike previous playoff years, when the Leafs had no consistent No. 2 netminder when needed, Woll played a career-high 42 games this season with a .909 save percentage. He has been in post-season action, too, and a full day to prep for Game 2 is more preferable than Monday’s emergency battlefield promotion.

“You all saw him this year, he played a lot of good games for us,” Berube said. “Stolie was out (mid-season due to minor knee surgery) and (Woll) was holding the fort for us. We have a ton of faith in him.”

From being adamant Bennett should’ve been penalized in the game — “an elbow to the head, clear as day,” was Berube’s hot take — Stolarz’s recovery and the department of player safety’s decision not to call Bennett to the carpet for a hearing seems to have lowered the Leafs’ collective temperature.

“I’ve moved on from it, don’t want to talk about it, it’s over,” Berube declared.

If he had intent to injure, Bennett disguised it as he came through the blue paint from the side with Stolarz on his knees and lowered his right forearm. The league would’ve presumably taken into account the Reinhart shot, Florida’s first of the game at 5:08, that knocked Stolarz’s mask off.

“We know they’ll come hard to the net, that’s no surprise,” said defenceman Brandon Carlo, whose back was to the play when Bennett came through. “When you’re out there, you don’t really know what happens right in the moment. Overall, they’ll play a hard game, we have to match that intensity and go hard at their own net.

“We’ve had the objective to work hard between the whistles in this series and don’t want to get into the nitty gritty after. (Bennett) plays really hard on both sides of the puck and I have respect for that, as long as it’s done in a clean fashion.

“Those are guys you want on your team, but overall you have to be careful out there.”

A lot of chippy incidents went under the radar by both teams in Game 1, though Max Domi was the only one called in an early fencing exchange with Brad Marchand. Matthew Tkachuk was active, too, targeting Toronto’s Mitch Marner at the buzzer.

“Players like (Bennett) normally flirt with the line and that’s what makes them good at their job,” Leafs winger Max Pacioretty said.

“We knew there’d be a lot of emotions in this series. This group has stuck together, stood up for one another all year. (The rest of the series) will be another example of that.”

lhornby@postmedia.com

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