Stolarz returned after a 73-day absence to the lineup and made 25 saves on 30 shots in a 6-3 loss.
It came as a bit of a surprise when Anthony Stolarz stepped onto the ice and took the starter's end of the Toronto Maple Leafs' net.
Back up after a couple of days with the Toronto Marlies on a conditioning stint, Stolarz made his return to the Leafs net after a 73-day absence. He gave up five goals on 30 shots in a 6-3 loss to Vegas Golden Knights.
It was hard to put much of the loss on Stolarz. His head coach, Craig Berube said that only the third goal he allowed was one he'd probably want back. But the real question came as to how they targeted a return for such a big game like this one, that featured the return of Mitch Marner.
"I think we kind of had a plan, you know, around this time. And a few days ago I started to feel really good and obviously having the opportunity to go down with the Marlies and get those full practices kind of a little longer than our practices are," Stolarz explained. "So just being able to go down there and work and get some reps, I think I felt really good after that. So I thought it was time to get activated and come back."
Stolarz addressed other topics, including how he felt in his return, the emotional atmosphere of playing against Marner and the urgency in the team given they are sill on the outside looking in when it comes to the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Anthony, I guess maybe just start with how it felt to be back there for you tonight.
Yeah, it was definitely exciting just to be back on the ice with the guys again and just having the opportunity to battle to compete with them. Obviously, it sucks watching from up top. Something that was out of my control, but at the end of the day, it was just nice to be back there.
What are the challenges in a goalie's first game back? been out for one or two months?
Probably just the tempo and the speed. You can obviously do your best to replicate those in practice, but once you get out there in a game at the NHL level, the tempo of the play is a lot quicker. And tonight, especially early on, I was a little behind. And as the game wore on, I kind of thought I got a little more comfortable.
Back in a pretty emotional atmosphere. What did you make of the building tonight and the stakes of this one?
Yeah, I thought the building was great. I mean, that's, you know, that's, you know, why you play the game, just that atmosphere, you know, just the way the crowd was all night. You know, they were fantastic. You know, just obviously wished that, we had a different result.
They came at you early, and I wonder what you kind of say to yourself in those moments, given that it was your first game back to kind of keep yourself even-keeled.
Yeah, you just kind of forget about the goals and you just try to go out there and focus on the next shot. I mean, that's your job. And, you know, what it boiled down to tonight was, just didn't make a timely save to kind of swing the momentum for myself. And, you know, just got to get back to work tomorrow and try to find it.
Given how tight the race is, what's your sense of the urgency in this room?
I mean, I think it's high. I mean, obviously we understand that, every point, every game is important. And, you know, I thought there was a stretch of tonight where, we control play. And other times we kind of, you know, let them make some plays and we were just a little slow. But I think, you know, everyone understands that, we need these points. And, you know, like I said, we got another big one on Sunday and, just looking forward to that.