Anthony Stolarz unable to travel to Florida, Maple Leafs roll with Joseph Woll
Starting goalie Anthony Stolarz wasn't on the team's charter plane to Florida on Thursday
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The Maple Leafs won’t say it for public consumption, but a split in Sunrise this weekend would be their minimum objective.
They do know now that Games 3 and 4 won’t be divided between goalies Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz, as their charter flight departed Thursday morning without the latter aboard.
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Anthony Stolarz unable to travel to Florida, Maple Leafs roll with Joseph Woll Back to video
It was another indication Stolarz is concussed from one or both Game 1 head traumas — taking Sam Reinhart’s hard shot on his mask and Sam Bennett’s elbow to the back of his noggin.
Head coach Craig Berube had no further update on Stolarz before leaving and when asked about bringing him on the road, said “not right away.”
Given how well Woll played and the struggles of Sergei Bobrovsky at the other end with nine goals against in Florida’s two losses, there’s no pressure to rush Stolarz back, even if he would’ve been feeling better as this week progressed.
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It’s all Woll for now, backed up by veteran Matt Murray.
Given few pundits had them capable of sweeping the defending Stanley Cup champions and that Ottawa fought so hard at home after it fell behind Toronto in the first round of the playoffs, the Leafs were putting all the focus on Friday night. If they win that, the worst they can do is come home with two chances to wrap the series on home ice.
“We want to win every night, but (Florida is) battle-tested, experienced and extremely competitive,” defenceman Morgan Rielly warned. “We’re not getting carried away with anything.”
The Panthers over-nighted in their Toronto hotel before flying home Thursday. They’re in unfamiliar territory being down 0-2, but unlike the Leafs, know all about playing deep into June.
Amerant Bank Arena likely won’t see a lot of blue-and-white sweaters, whereas spring regular-season dates see visiting Canadians more plentiful.
“That’s a hard building, they’re very good at home,” Berube noted. “It’s going to be a physical game.”
Winger Steven Lorentz, one of three members of the 2024 champs who joined the Leafs with Stolarz and defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, says the Leafs can at least expect good ice conditions despite the hot climate.
“It’s cold in there,” he joked. “It has to be because it’s 110 degrees (Fahrenheit) outside.”
He also knows his former team has lots of life in this series.
“They’re just not going to roll over. They’ll have push-back and try to feed off the energy that building will bring,” he said.
Lorentz added that the verbal exchanges going on after whistles, in scrums and at the benches have been as advertised.
“We’re not trying to get too distracted,” he said with a chuckle. “We know they’ve got some guys over there who like to get under our skin a little bit.
“We don’t want to buy into that, we’re trying to play our game.”
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