Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz defends as Leafs forward Nicholas Robertson, left, battles for the puck against Boston Bruins forward Elias Lindholm in Toronto on Nov. 5.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Even in the continued absence of the “best player in the world” – as Max Pacioretty describes injured captain Auston Matthews – the Toronto Maple Leafs head into back-to-back home games over the Hockey Hall of Fame induction weekend on something of an emotional high.
In fairness, it’s to be expected after a cathartic 4-0 win over the archenemy Boston Bruins on Tuesday. And while their hitherto dormant power play woke up with a startle that night – going 3-for-7 in a penalty-filled affair – another key to that statement victory over their frequent playoff nemesis was goaltender Anthony Stolarz.
Signed in the off-season to provide a veteran presence behind presumptive starter Joseph Woll, Stolarz has made himself right at home in the Maple Leafs crease. When the oft-injured Woll struggled out of the gate with a groin problem, Stolarz took the puck and ran with it, and has now started nine of the team’s 14 games, helping the team register at least one point in each of his past five starts.
He stopped 29 shots on Tuesday for his first shutout with the Leafs – and ninth of his NHL career – becoming the first Toronto goaltender to blank the Bruins since Jonas Gustavsson did so 15 years ago.
Clearly in a gushing mood when he came to his teammates, Pacioretty – like Stolarz, a newcomer to Toronto – was effusive in his praise of the team’s netminder and his .928 save percentage, good for fourth best in the NHL before Thursday’s games.
“He’s just a really good goalie that you like to see have success and get recognition,” he said of his regular car-pool partner. “Works really hard. So big in there, so calm in there, calm when he’s off the ice as well. Just kind of all the characteristics of a really good goaltender.”
One of the few Maple Leafs with a Stanley Cup on his résumé, after backing up Sergei Bobrovsky during the Florida Panthers’ championship run last spring, Stolarz is no stranger to having to earn his opportunities.
Two months shy of his 31st birthday, Stolarz – who was a second-round pick by the Philadelphia Flyers 12 years ago – has only played in 117 NHL games. The 24 games he started last year for Florida was a career high, a ceiling he’s well on course to shatter this season.
He carries a constant reminder of that battle for recognition on the back of his goalie mask, where the main slogan says ‘Prove people wrong.’
“It’s just something that I thought would be pretty cool to have on my mask,” Stolarz says. “There’s always going to be people who doubt you and it’s been like that for everybody, people kind of don’t want us to succeed, and it’s up to you to kind of just battle through that adversity and come out on top.”
Proving he’s a man of varied tastes, the back of Stolarz’s mask also carries an image of Sam Dullard, a character from Rocket Power, his favourite Nickelodeon cartoon growing up, and a Vince Vaughan quote from the movie Wedding Crashers: ‘Rule #76: No excuses, play like a champion.’
That one doesn’t carry quite the same amount of meaning and gravitas as the other slogan.
“It’s just something funny,” Stolarz explains. “It was one of my favourite movies growing up.”
Away from the rink and his 5-2-2 record in blue and white – to go along with his stellar 2.12 goals-against average – Stolarz is equally at home on the sofa keeping tabs on his beloved New York-area teams. A product of Edison, N.J., Stolarz is a fan of the NFL’s New York Giants and NBA’s Brooklyn Nets, and counts long-time New York Met Brandon Nimmo as his favourite athlete, for his work ethic, if nothing else.
“Just always works really hard,” Stolarz says. “He’s a guy that when they give him a walk, he runs to first base.”
With back-to-back Atlantic Division games against the Detroit Red Wings on Friday and the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, Stolarz is in line to get at least one more start over the two games, and possibly a matchup with shifty Detroit winger Patrick Kane.
While Matthews is currently out with an upper-body ailment that head coach Craig Berube termed as “day to day” – causing him to miss practice on Thursday – the team has stepped up in his absence.
In addition to the power play cashing in three times against the Bruins – it had just four goals with the man advantage all season before that – the penalty kill was equally adept, successfully negating six Boston power plays. And the Matthews-less offence certainly carried its weight, too, with the Leafs scoring at least four goals for the seventh time this season, underpinning the team’s 7-0 record in such games.
Though Pacioretty admitted that Tuesday’s win over the Bruins was a “really emotional game,” he wouldn’t go as far as admitting that the captain’s absence had provided a short-term boost to the rest of the team looking to ‘win one for the gipper,’ as it were.
However, he did say that the example provided by Matthews, with his methodical commitment in the training room and gym to get back on the ice as soon as possible, could provide a sort of stimulus.
“There’s a boost when you know that he’s in here doing everything he can to come back and help the team. Maybe that gives you a boost, in a sense, where it’s like we want to make sure that we do right by him,” the former Canadiens captain said. “He’s our leader. But, I mean, once again, we’re talking about the best player in the world. It’s tough to justify.”