Maple Leafs Goaltender Anthony Stolarz Tied For NHL Lead In Save Percentage As Team Approaches Quarter-Mark Of Season

Stolarz signed a two-year, $5 million deal with Toronto after winning the Stanley Cup with Florida in June.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are getting everything out of Anthony Stolarz as the team nears the quarter point in their season.

The 30-year-old goaltender has seven wins in his first 12 games with Toronto, the most among any goaltender within the organization. Stolarz also has a league-leading .927 save percentage through that span, tied with Detroit Red Wings' Cam Talbot and Minnesota Wild's Filip Gustavsson.

Stolarz's latest win came Saturday night against the Edmonton Oilers in a 4-3 overtime victory. He allowed three goals on 30 shots, with the most important coming during the team's five-minute penalty kill after Ryan Reaves' check to the head on Darnell Nurse.

"You just got to get to work and just worry about killing it off. You have to worry about that next shot," Stolarz said on Saturday night after the overtime win. 

"The game's 2-1 there and they have a chance to kind of break it open. And for us to kind of dial it in, not give up too many shots — I think they laid two or three — it was huge and allowed us to stick around."

Connor McDavid found the back of the net once on Stolarz but could've had a couple more goals in the game, particularly on one play where he stole the puck from Morgan Rielly behind the net before trying to beat the Maple Leafs goaltender by surprise.

Stolarz was there to take away McDavid's chance by using his stick to poke the puck away from the league's top player.

"I mean, probably my frame was in the way, so Mo kind of couldn't see him," the goaltender said with a smile. "But, yeah, I mean, someone as talented as him, he's going to come around and I just tried to surprise him with poke-check and was fortunate enough to get a lot of contact with the puck there."

Stolarz has taken the reigns of Toronto's top goaltender with his play. Joseph Woll began the season nursing a lower-body injury, which allowed Stolarz enough runway to find his game early in the year.

He said the chance to play more than ever before was one of the reasons why he signed in Toronto.

Stolarz is coming off a Stanley Cup win with the Florida Panthers last year where he had 16 wins and the NHL's fourth-best save percentage (.925) through 27 games. 

The Edison, New Jersey-born goaltender signed a two-year, $5 million contract with the Maple Leafs on July 1, the opening day of free agency. The deal carries an annual average value of $2.5 million.

Stolarz has played 120 games throughout his NHL career, posting a 50-34-11 record and a .916 save percentage across nine seasons with the Maple Leafs, Philadelphia Flyers, Edmonton Oilers, Anaheim Ducks, and Florida Panthers.