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Anthony Stolarz Confirms the Exact Cause of his Unfortunate Concussion

Originally posted on Blade of Steel | By Tom Banks | Last updated May 20, 2025 12:36 PM ET

Sam Bennett's elbow to Anthony Stolarz brought up plenty of controversy, and now the goaltender has confirmed that was the source of his concussion.

The Toronto Maple Leafs lost in seven games to the Florida Panthers in a series that was full of drama, physicality and intensity, but perhaps things would have been different if not for the injury to goaltender Anthony Stolarz.

The veteran was taken out with a concussion in Game 1, and did not return to the ice at all for Toronto in the series, with his concussion becoming a major talking point in the series.

Some believed it was from the shot that hit him directly in the facemask, while others point to the Sam Bennett elbow that officially took him out, and now, the former Florida Panthers goaltender has opened up on the source of his concussion.

While many Panthers fans defended Bennett and pointed to the shot that hit him in the face, Stolarz has now confirmed it was the elbow from Bennett that caused him the pain and eventually forced him to be stretchered out of the arena after Game 1, noting that he felt fine until after that collision.

With that being said however, he is a former teammate of Bennett and this Panthers team, and he confirmed that he doesn't believe there was any intent from his former teammate, wishing him nothing but the best moving forward in the playoffs.

'He just caught me in a bad spot.'

Ultimately, it's a shock that this didn't cause Bennett to miss a game or at least be fined by the NHL's Department of Player Safety, but it completely turned the tide in this series, and at the end of the day, it appears as though the Panthers got away with one here.

This article first appeared on Blade of Steel and was syndicated with permission.

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