Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz candidly ripped into his teammates following Saturday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken, but it appears all parties are moving on gracefully.
Stolarz was heated post-game, taking issue with the fact that he was collided with by Kraken players, most notably, Mason Marchment, several times throughout the contest. Toronto’s starting goaltender went after Marchment after he bowled into the crease unimpeded. Stolarz was also irate with William Nylander and Auston Matthews’ effort on the game-winning goal, citing their decision not to track back.
It’s old news now, if you ask the Maple Leafs.
“I pulled Willy aside and we had a conversation. He’s someone I admire and someone I respect deeply. There’s a reason he’s been in this league for so long. He’s a hell of a player. He pushes me and I push him,” Stolarz said Monday via TSN’s Mark Masters.
Nylander took no issue with Stolarz’s critique, as the team looks to move on. The 29-year-old was previously criticized at the start of the year by Berube, but he has recorded two goals and 11 points in six games.
“It’s all good. Look, we’re teammates,” Nylander said Monday. “He’s a great guy. There’s nothing that we need to, you know, talk about here. Yeah, he talked to me after and it’s all good. It’s been no issue since.”
Matthews echoed Nylander’s sentiment.
“We’re a veteran group. We’re all big boys. You don’t need to beat around the bush. It’s an easy conversation we all had and you just move on, close the door. We gotta be better and we will be.”
Stolarz is in good form to start the year, although his raw numbers may belie his importance to the team, with a .897 save percentage and 2-2-1 record to begin the year. He submitted a masterclass performance in Thursday’s win against the New York Rangers and there’s an argument to be made that he’s been the team’s most valuable player through six games.
Matthews and Nylander are the Maple Leafs’ franchise players and it’s good to see that they’ve been open to internal criticism, as the team looks to steady itself Tuesday. It’ll be compelling to see how they respond, and after Berube shuffled the lines on Tuesday, we may see more offensive pop throughout the final stretch of the home stand.
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