TORONTO — After Anthony Stolarz smashed his goalie stick to shards, he stood tall and alone at the deep end of the Toronto Maple Leafs dressing room and began to spew flames of truth.
The losing goaltender had, as is his custom, played his heart out, coming up big on Grade-A looks and odd-man rushes. Yet Stolarz had been trampled, knocked down and left all alone on defenceman Josh Mahura’s clock-freezing overtime rush that delivered a 4-3 victory for the Seattle Kraken, a team with far less star power but far more will power on this night.
In a postgame scrum that was cut short before it could touch three minutes, Stolarz hit more nails on the head than an overbooked carpenter.
“It was a good third period, but the first two periods, we kind of let them walk all over us. And we just didn’t play our game. They outworked us in front of the net. They blocked shots. They beat us up and down the ice. And the score is indicative of that. They just outworked us, plain and simple,” Stolarz began.
Tellingly, the outspoken goaltender was less upset about Mason Marchment running into him on purpose and Jayden Schwartz entering his crease and knocking him down via a Brandon Carlo boxout than he was about what was happening in Joey Daccord’s paint: not much.
“I mean, it’s just playing hard,” Stolarz said of the crease contact. “Maybe we can take a page out of their book and start getting to the net. I mean, for us, we like to go low to high and shoot. But for their goalie, it’s like playing catch in the yard. He’s seeing everything.”
NHL clubs don’t exactly have a celebrated history when naming goaltenders captain, but looking around this Maple Leafs room, one would find it difficult to point to a player who is trying harder, summoning more early-season urgency, or speaking with more leader-like passion than the veteran who just took less than market value to stick around as the backbone.
We’re certain plenty of Leafs aren’t content after a regular-season loss. None of them will make you feel their frustration the way Stolarz did Saturday, though.
Nowhere to be found were the “hey, we salvaged a point” platitudes or “trust the process” clichés. Stolarz was treating post-loss analysis the way he does one-timers without a mask or crease scrambles without a blocker: raw.
“We came out, tied the game, got a point out of it, almost scored with five seconds left. But it’s a little too, little too late. And even though we’re six games into the season, enough’s enough. And we kinda got to start picking it up here,” Stolarz said.
The fiery New Jersey native got steamrolled by the 212-pound Marchment in the final minute of Period 2, drawing a goalie interference penalty. But as Carlo stood passive witness, Stolarz opted to fight his own battle, flipping over his cage and giving Marchment a shot before the Maple Leafs defenceman reacted.
At least someone in a blue sweater took initiative.
“I’m not happy. You know, guys are gonna run me, and I’m gonna try to stand up for myself. I heard the ref say, we got a power-play, and it’s really not much I can do to him on the ground. But kudos to the guys who were there and got down with him,” said Stolarz, who was memorably eliminated from Round 2 of the playoffs when Florida Panthers’ Sam Bennett elbowed him into the hospital.
“But like I said, I think we gotta start going in the cage a little harder, make it harder for their goalies. You know, it’s not fun. I don’t like having 225-pound guys laying on me. So, you know, hopefully we learn a lesson here.”
Craig Berube has seen his one available starting goalie take knocks virtually every start this season, including in exhibitions. The head coach has also watched some tepid responses to shots opponents have taken at 20-year-old rookie Easton Cowan, who took some lumber in the chops from Vince Dunn on Saturday, as well.
Ironically, the identity preached throughout training camp was that the Leafs would stick up for one another, be a harder team to play against.
Are they at that standard?
“No, I’ve talked about it already before. Not good enough. That (Marchment) play, that happens at times. But in general, I’ve said it. Like, we’re not clearing out the crease enough. We’re not doing a good enough job there,” Berube said.
“We’ve got to protect our goalie. Gotta be harder around our net. I’m not preaching go and take guys’ heads off. But enough’s enough.”
A lack of willingness to get their noses dirty, to win puck battles and footraces, and — in the case of Saturday’s fourth period — backcheck has given Toronto a cruise control feel through six games.
The Leafs are doing enough to earn points; they’re pacing themselves.
But Stolarz demands more gas.
And, without naming names, he singled out William Nylander’s soft backcheck that gave Mahura a clean look in Period 4.
“I mean, a lot of guys have been here for a while. You know, overtime, you can’t let someone beat you up the ice there. Gets a clear-cut breakaway. I mean, minute left, you want to be on the ice in that situation, you got to work hard. Got to work back. And it cost us a point there.
“At the end of the day, it’s early. We do have some time to gel. But at the end of the day too, it’s more or less just about working hard. And when we work hard, the results come.”
So, when Stolarz turned around and Vladdy’d his goal stick over his post as the buzzer blared, was that frustration vented over a soft backcheck or the game in general?
“How many points are we going to leave out there?” Stolarz asked. “Being here last year and seeing the team we had,and seeing how far we were able to go and the potential … Like, the potential’s there. We have the skill. We have the grit. We have the grind. You know, it’s just frustrating that we just can’t put it together right now.”
Preach, cap.
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Fox’s Fast Five
• Toronto versus Seattle all weekend!
Last time the Blue Jays won an American League pennant, in 1993, this town faced a similar scheduling matchup.
The Maple Leafs beat the Chicago Blackhawks on Hockey Night in Canada on Oct. 9, 1993. Then the Blue Jays defeated the Chicago White Sox on Sunday, Oct. 10, 1993, winning their third game of the ALCS. (And we all know how that story ended.)
So, was Leafs resident Jays fan and Kevin Gausman lookalike Chris Tanev yelling at his TV set during the eighth inning of Game 5?
“I think everyone was,” Tanev told reporters at Toronto’s morning skate.
“Two games at home, I think going down 0-2, that’s probably what they wanted heading into Seattle is to have a chance to come home and get the job done.”
Not only did the Kraken all wear Mariners jerseys into Scotiabank Arena, they conducted their post-win media availabilities in them, too. Coach Lane Lambert included.
• With a pair of snipes, John Tavares has now scored 500 points as a Maple Leaf.
Only three others have scored 500 with two NHL teams: Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, and Ron Francis.
“It’s incredible. He’s just a hockey player through and through. Just a pro,” Rielly beams. “It’s been a real joy to have the chance to play with him and watch him operate. And he deserves to be in that company all day. He’s a very impressive guy.”
• Auston Matthews skipped Friday’s practice in the name of maintenance, something he did occasionally during an injury-hampered 2024-25 as well.
Berube pointed to his captain’s heavy workload.
Matthews’ average ice time of 21:59 leads all Leafs, ranks seventh league-wide among forwards, and puts him on pace for his busiest season (his previous high is 21:33, in the lockdown-shortened 2020-21 campaign).
Berube assures his No. 1 centre is healthy and has been impressed by Matthews’ all-around game. He has points in five of six games thus far.
• Non-Stolarz Quote of the Day.
“Experience would give you the opportunity to do things better… unless arrogance keeps you from doing that.” — Lane Lambert, Leafs assistant turned Kraken head coach
• Yes, Calle Järnkrok leads Toronto in 5-on-5 goals (three). And, yes, he was healthy-scratched anyway Saturday, for fellow fourth-line winger Steven Lorentz.
The coach chalks up the benching to “a numbers game.”
Our take: Berube doesn’t want to kill the confidence of new guy Dakota Joshua (team-worst minus-5 rating) or rookie Easton Cowan (benched for the bulk of Period 3 Thursday after five giveaways).
