TORONTO — As the Toronto Maple Leafs busied themselves closing out a raucous 5-4 Game 1 victory over the nemesis Florida Panthers with backup goalie Joseph Woll holding fort and third-stringer Dennis Hildeby on the bench, two paramedics in red EMS shirts briskly whisked a padded yellow stretcher into the home dressing room for Anthony Stolarz during the third period.
Stolarz was transported by ambulance to hospital for evaluation, and his status remained unclear when the teams left Scotiabank Arena.
The Maple Leafs’ starting goaltender — a winner of 12 of his past 14 starts — had remained in Monday’s game after shaking off an 80-mile wrister off the stick of friend Sam Reinhart in the first period. And still, but only for a few minutes, after getting his head elbowed by Sam Bennett in a sneaky fly-by during the second.
An ailing Stolarz glided over to the Leafs bench after 30 minutes of work. He leaned over and vomited. Wiped his mouth with a towel. Spoke to trainer Paul Ayotte. Then left the net and a 4-1 lead to Woll.
“I don’t like that, of course. When you see your teammate go down like that it, it’s not good,” said Woll, who saved 17 of the 20 shots he faced in his first work in 18 days. “You go from kinda chillin’ to the front line of action.”
The Stolarz-Bennett saga, much like this hotly anticipated Round 2 rematch between two legitimate Stanley Cup contenders, is only beginning.
For the next 48 hours, this story will be front of line and front of mind.
“Elbow to the head. Clear as day,” Leafs coach Berube said postgame. “I’m not sure why there’s not a call on it. But, you know, I get it. They miss calls. It’s clearly a penalty.”
Does Berube expect a suspension for Bennett, who sneak-punched then-Bruin Brad Marchand in 2024’s second round and concussed Toronto’s Matthew Knies in a behind-the-play takedown in 2023’s second round?
“That’s not up to me. That’s up to the league,” Berube replied, calmly. “They’ll do what they think is necessary on that play.”
Added Knies: “Hopefully the league will handle it and take good care of it and protect our players.”
The Panthers thought it necessary to shelter Bennett — who scored Florida’s fourth goal and gave the home fans a fright late — from any questions about the elbow postgame. The club did not make the star available despite a request.
Left to comment were a couple of Panthers who paraded the Cup down Beachfront Avenue with Stolarz 11-plus months ago. Eetu Luostarinen called the injury “unfortunate.”
Captain Aleksander Barkov maintained, as did a handful of Maple Leafs, that he didn’t see the play.
“But hope he’s OK. Like, he’s a big man, so hopefully he’s OK,” Barkov said. “But we just concentrate on our game. Doesn’t matter who we play against, and who’s the goalie or what team we’re playing against, we want to do our own thing and concentrate on those.”
Panthers coach Paul Maurice, too, expressed well wishes: “Hopeful for Anthony and his health. We love that guy, and we hope he gets better real fast.”
To the Maple Leafs’ credit, they concentrated on securing the victory and not letting a dominant first period go to waste. They weren’t so rattled or distracted by retaliation that they failed to get the result as the Panthers mounted their third-period push.
They were more disciplined than their visitors, checking hard in front of Woll but taking advantage of windows for offensive explosion.
“There’s more patience in their game,” Maurice observed. “Maybe in the past it was an attack mindset kind of offensively all the time. And now they’re more patient. They’ll put more pucks deep. They’ll be more patient with the pucks (getting) out. So, a bit, I would say, more of a mature game.”
That maturity seeped into Toronto’s postgame composure as their stud goaltender was undergoing tests at the hospital for a head injury.
Instead of lobbying to player safety — who will unlock Florida defenceman Aaron Ekblad out of jail for Game 2 Wednesday — the Leafs simply let the evidence speak for itself.
“So, listen, what’s going to happen: You’re all gonna light your hair on fire. I’m gonna let ya,” Maurice said, addressing a room full of media. “The referee is standing right there when it happened. And then you will do your thing, the league will do its thing legal, and I’ll coach the next game.” The coach paused, then made a funny. “Hopefully. After that start, you never know.”
The real joke will be if Bennett gets to deliver a nasty headshot to a critical player without so much as a penalty.
“It’s a tough situation, especially in a playoff game with this magnitude and everything,” Berube said. “So, (Woll) handled it well, I thought.
“Listen, we got the win.”
Fox’s Fast Five
• Knies continues to impress under the brightest lights.
The youngest Leaf is already up to seven goals in 21 career playoff games, none bigger than Game 1’s breakaway winner.
Prior to the game, Berube was asked what has surprised him most about the power forward.
“His hands,” Berube replied.
Knies’s move in tight was premeditated.
“Mitch made a great play on the wall to get it to me. I just wanted to beat him high on the glove side,” he said. “We did a lot of video, and I got him earlier in the regular season. I just wanted to elevate that one.”
“He’s letting his skill come out more,” Woll said. “You guys are seeing that.”
• Funny hearing prominent figures on both sides of the series try to play the underdog card at Monday’s morning skate.
“Anytime you’re playing the Cup champions, you’re going to be the underdog,” Berube argued. “They’ve proven they’re a great team over the last few years. They’re a very good team. We’re a good team, too.”
Even though Toronto finished five wins clear of the Cats in the regular season to seize home-ice advantage, betting sites had the Leafs listed as the biggest Round 2 underdogs. Also, this marked the Toronto core’s greatest underdog status since their 2017 first-round series against the Capitals.
So, the two-time conference champion Panthers must be the favourite, right, Matthew Tkachuk?
“I don’t think we are,” the winger snapped back. “I mean, we’re on the road here to start. They obviously had a better year than we did. So, we’ll relish that (underdog) role.”
• Yes, Mitch Marner would’ve missed a pretty important hockey game had his wife, Stephanie, given birth on a game day. Maybe a Game 7.
“Family always comes first. So if something happened during that (Ottawa) series or during a hockey game with my wife going into labour, I was going to go and join her,” Marner explained. “Lucky enough, it didn’t happen. My son was smart enough to know that (you) don’t come on a hockey day.”
The Marners welcomed baby Miles Daniel Marner (same initials and hockey sense as Dad) to the world Sunday morning. Mitch hasn’t lost a game since.
“A really special moment,” Marner said. “My wife was an absolute beast through it all. She was so impressive to watch. (Impressive) what a woman’s body can do, how much strength they have. It was incredibly impressive to sit there and watch and just be her cheerleader for two days. It was something really special to watch and be a part of. I’m a lucky guy, for sure.”
• It speaks to Morgan Rielly’s routine of elevating his game come springtime — and, perhaps, the Leafs’ historic lack of deep runs — that the 31-year-old set a new franchise record for most career playoff goals by a defenceman (14) in just his sixth game played beyond Round 1.
Fun fact: The Panthers allowed a grand total of one goal to the Lightning’s defencemen in Round 1. They allowed two to Toronto’s blueliners in Game 1 (Rielly, Chris Tanev).
• The referees set a tough standard by sending Max Domi to the box for cross-checking. A soft call.
The stripes were chasing it all night, whistling eight minors and taking away from even-strength game flow. And yet letting the most injurious infraction go uncalled.
What should concern Toronto is that the Panthers’ penalty kill is much sharper and more aggressive than Ottawa’s. Maurice’s bunch went a perfect 5-for-5 on the kill.
“It’s such a big part of our game,” the coach said. “You’re gonna need to take some confidence out of a loss. That would be the piece to our game that kinda looked like we’re supposed to look.”
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