Stolarz Still Out of Action for the Maple Leafs
Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz continues his recovery from an unspecified injury, but does not appear to be close to returning for the Eastern Conference playoff series against the Florida Panthers.
“He’s progressing in the right direction,” Leafs coach Craig Berube said on Saturday. “But he hasn’t skated yet [since he was injured].”
Craig Berube
Stolarz was injured during Game 1. The goaltender took a puck to his mask and a hit to the head from Panthers forward Sam Bennett in the second period of that game, leaving shortly after Bennett’s hit. Stolarz, who was ill on the Toronto bench before leaving the game, was transported to a local hospital for further evaluation.
The veteran was able to reunite with his teammates the next day at their facilities, but he did not travel with the Leafs to Florida when the series moved there before Game 3 on Friday.
Joseph Woll has taken over starting duties from Stolarz and helped Toronto take a 2-0 series lead in the best-of-seven.
But Woll struggled in Game 3, posting an .861SV% as the Panthers twice rallied to beat the Leafs 5-4 in overtime.
Berube said after the loss that “he thought [Woll] was really good,” but he didn’t like the fourth goal against the Leafs, when Panthers fourth-line player Jonah Gadjovich cleanly beat Woll from outside the right face-off circle to give Florida its first lead of the night.
Woll has also been adjusting to playing the puck in the midst of Florida’s suffocating forecheck.
“They’re shooting a lot of pucks,” Woll said on Friday. “I’m just trying to do my best to help us out.”
Joseph Woll
Florida hasn’t made it easy for the Leafs in that regard. Berube anticipates that Woll can learn from Friday’s mistakes and improve, however.
“It’s difficult,” Berube said. “A lot of those tires are up; they’re not on the ice. And that’s by design. If they can give him a good whack, they’re going to put it on the glass. It’s pretty tough for him to come out and play them. He got to a lot of them. But they come with force. He’s going to have to move it quick.”
Craig Berube
Game 4 of the series is scheduled for Sunday.
