Anthony Stolarz starts in net in Seattle, Mitch Marner also returns to Maple Leafs lineup
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Anthony Stolarz is back.
The Maple Leafs goaltender will be in the crease on Thursday night in Seattle against the Kraken, marking his first game since a knee issue forced him out during a Dec. 12 home game against the Anaheim Ducks.
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Anthony Stolarz starts in net in Seattle, Mitch Marner also returns to Maple Leafs lineup Back to video
Following the Leafs’ morning skate at Climate Pledge Arena, Leafs coach Craig Berube confirmed to media in Seattle that Stolarz will start.
Does Berube anticipate any rust in his veteran netminder?
“Good question,” Berube said to media in Seattle. “Who knows? We’ll see how the game goes, but we have to do a good job in front of him. We have to make sure we’re tight, we’re eliminating their rush game. We don’t need to be giving those guys chances off the rush.
We have to check hard tonight.”
Approximately three hours before the 10 p.m. (Eastern) puck drop, the Leafs officially activated Stolarz from injured reserve and assigned goalie Matt Murray to the Toronto Marlies.
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Berube also confirmed that star winger Mitch Marner will be in the lineup after he missed the Leafs’ 6-3 win in Calgary against the Flames on Tuesday night. Marner was dealing with a lower-body issue that caused him to miss a game for the first time in 2024-25.
“Just a spasm thing,” Marner said. “Something locked up on me for a day and a half, throughout the day of the Calgary game it started really getting back to normal and yesterday it felt 100%. Just a weird little day thing.”
Marner, who is fifth in National Hockey League scoring with 70 points in 52 games, wasn’t back on the top line with captain Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies at the morning skate.
Instead, Berube kept Max Domi on the right side with Matthews and Knies. Marner was on the second line with John Tavares in the middle and William Nylander, who was moved to the left side.
“I liked Max on the (Matthews) line (in Calgary), felt like he had more juice in the game,” Berube said. “I want to keep going. Talked to them about Willie going on left and Mitch on right with JT. Mitch played some really good hockey with JT this year, we know that.
“It’s a little bit of a different look for (Nylander on the off-wing) with his shot and in his own end, I think he can be the type of guy that can take pucks off the wall on his forehand, get to the middle of the ice, make some plays coming out of our zone.
“The way it worked out, with Mitch playing there on the right side with JT, I wanted to keep Willie to that line so I moved him to the left.”
Max Pacioretty was moved the left side on the fourth line, while Ryan Reaves is the odd man out.
Thursday is eight weeks since Stolarz departed the game against the Ducks after the first period. On Dec. 18, he had a procedure done on his knee in New York to remove a pebble-sized loose body.
When we previously saw Stolarz, he was leading the NHL with a .927 save percentage in 17 games. A minimum of 18 games played is required today by the NHL to be counted among the leaders, so Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets, who has a .925 save percentage in 42 games, presently is atop the leaderboard.
Stolarz, in his first season with the Leafs after signing a two-year contract in free agency last summer, has a record of 9-5-2 and a 2.15 goals-against average.
In Stolarz’s absence, Joseph Woll compiled a record of 11-7-0 with a .902 save percentage and a 2.97 goals-against average in 18 games.
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