Stolarz made 25 saves on 30 shots in a 6-3 loss against the Vegas Golden Knights, his first start in 73 days.
Anthony Stolarz is healthy again. And for the first time all season, the Toronto Maple Leafs had their ideal tandem in the lineup for a game.
The 32-year-old Stolarz made 25 saves on 30 shots in a 6-3 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday and head coach Craig Berube admitted that Stolarz is still getting adjusted after a long layoff due to injury.
"We still got to get him going," Berube said on Saturday. "He hasn't had a lot of work yet, right? And, again, it's hard because we don't practice a whole lot. But it's great to have the two guys back playing again."
Stolarz was sent down to the Toronto Marlies for a conditioning stint earlier in the week, but it appears there was never any intent to have the goaltender play some games at the AHL level.
"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 said on Fridaty. "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 previously played on Nov. 11 against the Boston Bruins and left in the first period with an upper-body injury. What appeared to be nothing serious at first turned into a 73-day layoff between NHL starts. Stolarz explained that he was suffering from a nerve issue, which led to the prolonged layoff. In the meantime, Joseph Woll has been leaned on heavily with Dennis Hildeby serving as his backup.
Hildeby was sent down to the Marlies upon the activation of Stolarz.
With Stolarz back, the hope was that he and Woll could act as a true tandem like they did in 2024-25 when they helped the Leafs finish with the fourth-best team save percentage in the NHL (.905).
But it sounds like the Leafs want to get some more practice reps with Stolarz before giving him another start, opting to go back to Woll when the club hosts the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday afternoon.
'We still got to see where he is, it's just one game," Berube said.
Berube also added that it wasn't his call on if there was any thought to getting Stolarz into an AHL game before coming back.
There was a lot of debate among fans if putting the goaltender up against Mitch Marner and the Knights was the right call. While the stats weren't flattering, Stolarz wasn't the main reason for the team's lack of jump or urgency in the game.