TORONTO (AP) — Anthony Stolarz was smiling and in the building.
The Maple Leafs goaltender had taken a blow to the head, vomited on the bench and left Scotiabank Arena on a stretcher to be evaluated in a hospital on Monday night.
His presence at Toronto’s practice facility in the city’s west end Tuesday morning was a welcome sign. Whether or not Stolarz will play when the team’s best-of-seven playoff series resumes Wednesday night is up in the air.
Coach Craig Berube didn’t rule out his starting goalie for Game 2 of the Leafs’ second-round matchup against the Florida Panthers after Stolarz was on the receiving end of an elbow from Sam Bennett in the opener.
“He’s doing well,” said Berube, whose group earned a 5-4 victory Monday to take a 1-0 lead in a matchup of Atlantic Division rivals.
“He’s here, doing good.”
That’s about all the information the veteran head coach was willing to share.
Is the 31-year-old available to play Wednesday?
Berube: “We’ll see. Don’t know that yet.”
And did he suffer a concussion?
Berube: “Don’t know that either.”
What the Leafs do know is Bennett — a Stanley Cup champion alongside Stolarz with the Panthers last season before the latter signed in Toronto — won’t face any supplemental discipline from the NHL.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Berube said. “It’s over.”
Stolarz, who also took a shot off the mask early in Game 1, was knocked to the ice in the second period by Bennett, but stayed in the action for a few minutes. He eventually departed after being sick during a TV timeout.
“Tough seeing your starting goaltender go down,” Leafs defenseman Jake McCabe said.
No stranger to entering a playoff series, backup Joseph Woll stopped 17 of 20 shots in relief as Toronto held on after building a 4-1 lead.
The 26-year-old won Games 5 and 6 of last spring’s first-round loss to the Boston Bruins, but was unable to go in the finale because of a back injury.
Woll, who played long stretches this season, including when Stolarz was out with a knee issue, also entered Toronto’s second-round defeat to Florida in 2023, winning Game 4 to stave off elimination before a 40-save performance in a 3-2 overtime loss that sent the Panthers to the Eastern Conference final.
“We’ve got all the confidence in him,” McCabe said. “Tough spot, but he did an awesome job.”
Bennett, meanwhile, spoke to reporters at Florida’s downtown hotel after not being made available to reporters following Game 1. The 28-year-old said he had exchanged text messages with Stolarz.
“There’s no intent,” said Bennett, who added he didn’t realize the two made contact in the moment. “Stolie’s a great friend of mine. When I hear he went to the hospital, of course, I feel bad. That’s why I reached out.”
The bruising 6-foot-1, 191-pound center, however, has a checkered past went it comes to playing near, on or over the line.
That long list of questionable plays includes him slamming Matthew Knies to the ice on a sequence that resulted in the Toronto winger getting a concussion in the 2023 series. He also appeared to sucker-punch Brad Marchand — now his Florida teammate — in last spring’s second round to sideline Boston’s former captain.
“I play a hard style,” Bennett said. “I’m just trying to play my game, I’m just trying to help our team win.”
He also understands the anger following Stolarz's injury, but said the fact the Panthers were on the power play means he was focused on only one thing.
“I’m trying to score,” Bennett said. “The last thing in my mind is elbowing him in the head. There wasn’t a ton of force in it.”
Leafs winger Max Pacioretty has been in the league since before Bennett was drafted fourth overall by the Calgary Flames in 2014.
“Emotional player that plays hard,” said the 36-year-old. “Players like that, they normally flirt with a line in terms of crossing it or playing right on that line all the time. That’s what makes players like that good at their job.”
Panthers coach Paul Maurice tried to downplay the situation Monday night and again Tuesday morning.
“Most of this, for me, is tempered by the fact that Stolie is one of our guys,” he said. “We love that guy. If I had thought that Sam had crossed the line, I’d probably be more careful with my words.
“I just didn’t think it happened.”
Berube said his team will have to stay disciplined and not seek retribution on Bennett that could result in power plays for the Panthers.
Seventh on the NHL’s penalty minutes list, however, Berube said the situation would have been handled differently during his playing days.
“Somebody would have done something right away,” he said with a smile. “Probably me, if I was out there.”
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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
The Associated Press
