Anthony Stolarz enters uncharted territory as Maple Leafs fight to finish series

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TORONTO — Four starts in seven days. We’re in uncharted territory for Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz.

One possible consequence? Through parts of Game 3 but certainly in the Game 4 loss against the Ottawa Senators, the NHL’s league leader in save percentage looked different than he did through a remarkable regular season.

Beatable.

Stolarz allowed four goals on 21 shots Saturday in Game 4. The last time he allowed at least four goals was back on March 8 against the Colorado Avalanche, one of the league’s best teams. He allowed four or more goals five times this season — but, crucially, never on as few shots as he faced in Game 4.

“It boils down to making one more save on my end,” Stolarz said of his team’s performance in the 4-3 overtime loss.

And that brings Stolarz’s heavy workload as of late back into frame. The concern over Stolarz was never whether he was deserving of the Leafs’ playoff starter gig. His .926 save percentage over 34 games made him the clear front-runner ahead of Joseph Woll. The concern was how Stolarz would handle the increased workload the playoffs bring — those 34 games were most of his NHL career.

Now Stolarz’s Game 4 loss makes it clear: He’s about to handle his first real playoff test, and probably the biggest test of his career.

How he pushes through the fatigue and physical strain that comes with the heavy workload will partly dictate whether the Leafs can finish off the Senators early enough, starting with Game Five on Tuesday.

“I feel fine,” Stolarz said of his workload. “It’s part of being an athlete. It’s part of what you train for.”

Still, no amount of training can replicate experience.

Stolarz has come close to starting four times in seven days this season, sure. He made three starts in seven days in late February and ripped off three wins with nine goals allowed. Then there were his four starts in 10 days in October when Joseph Woll went down with injury before the season. And hey, Stolarz’s three starts in six days in early November marked the beginning of Anthony Stolarz as we know him! He allowed just three goals in those three games.

Those are encouraging numbers. But truly, there’s been nothing like this stretch in his career.

He is a career backup who deserved a better fate or at least better opportunities because of his combination of size, drive and talent. But because the starter’s job has never come, Stolarz has never had to grind through a relentless stretch of games with quite this much prominence.

The physical strain of starts in quick succession isn’t something Anthony Stolarz has dealt with often in his NHL career. (Claus Andersen / Getty Images)

You can look at Stolarz’s play with a clear head this season and see both sides of the coin. He has been one of the Leafs’ best players and they likely don’t win the Atlantic Division without him. But you can also maintain a small degree of worry that when the work has piled up for Stolarz, injuries seem to loom large.

Go back to December, when Stolarz made one of just four starts this season on one day’s rest. He started against the Anaheim Ducks on Dec. 12, which was his third start in seven days. After the first period, Stolarz was forced out of the game and had to undergo what the Leafs called a knee procedure. He would not return until Feb. 6.

Back in 2018-19 with the Philadelphia Flyers, he went through a heavy workload through the month of December: seven games in 15 days, six of those being starts. Stolarz struggled to keep the puck out of the net during that stretch. In the seventh game, Stolarz suffered an injury that kept him out for a month and a half.

It’s highly unlikely Craig Berube moves on from Stolarz in this series. The Leafs coach wants to have one goalie manning the crease in the playoffs, and the 3-0 lead the Leafs took into Game 4 was largely due to Stolarz, anyway. Berube has a sense of trust in his goalie’s fire, competitiveness and ability to use his massive frame to keep pucks out. It feels like it would take multiple calamitous results from Stolarz for Berube to break the “in case of emergency” glass and turn to Woll.

And even then, turning to Woll for a potential Game 7 when he hasn’t played since April 17 doesn’t feel like the better course of action, either.

“I’m not concerned about Stolarz,” Berube said after Game 4, adding he didn’t think his goalie had a clear sightline on Jake Sanderson’s overtime goal.

“(Sanderson) just threw the puck on net,” Stolarz said. “I just picked it up a little late. I tried to get there and fight through the screen.”

And so Stolarz probably has a long leash, even considering Berube has a very strong option in Woll — don’t forget about his .909 save percentage this season and his career .933 save percentage through seven playoff games.

That just puts the onus on Stolarz to recover properly and adjust quickly to the increased workload. Doing so will be one of the more serious challenges any Leaf faces through the playoffs.

The postseason remains a new beast for Stolarz. His only previous postseason appearance came last season after Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky was pulled in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Sure, Stolarz can claim he’s sticking to his process and the game doesn’t change all that much from the regular season to the second season. And he deserves the benefit of the doubt, given the numbers he put up this season.

The only thing that really changes is the schedule. Had the Leafs finished off the Senators in Game 4, they would have bought themselves some well-earned rest ahead of the second round. Few would have benefited more from that rest than the only player logging nearly 60 minutes a game.

Instead, Stolarz will have to prepare for another start on a short turnaround come Tuesday.

For the first time in months, there might be a new question or two about what that game looks like.

(Top photo: Marc DesRosiers / Imagn Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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