Anthony Stolarz feels Maple Leafs made progress despite loss to Devils

Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz was singing a different tune after the team’s loss to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.

He was feeling fiesty after Saturday’s overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken, where he was critical of the Leafs’ net-front presence and how the game ended. Stolarz challenged the Leafs to defend his crease better while being more of a threat to the opposing team’s goalie.

Speaking with reporters after Tuesday’s game, Stolarz felt the Leafs were heading in the right direction despite falling short on the night.

“ I thought it was a really good effort by the boys tonight. They’re a skilled team,” he said. “For me personally, that fourth goal is one you want back. You wanna be able to go into the third period, get the guys a fighting chance and be able to keep it a one-goal game.  At that point, anything can happen.  I love the effort tonight. Guys were battling, you look at the back check, the block shots getting in lanes. I thought we did a lot of good things tonight.”

The goal that Stolarz was referencing was Jack Hughes’ second of the contest, when the Leafs were hemmed in the opposition’s end and a giveaway allowed Hughes a breakaway chance. Stoalrz was square to the shooter, but he said he misread it and didn’t get enough on the shot and the tally ended up being a back-breaker.

There have been concerns about the Leafs’ sloppy play to start the season, which Stolarz feels can be fixed by being more assertive on the forecheck.

“ I think just getting pucks in and going to work,” he said. “A couple of unlucky bounces tonight, pucks going off guys’ skates, and kind of going right to ’em. But that’s the way the game is.  I think the effort was there tonight. I think we did a really good job of defending and kind of keeping ’em to the outside. When we dig in their zone, we had some really good shifts.”

While there were some things that the Leafs can feel they are making strides in, there is still plenty of work to be done, given how many odd-man rushes they allowed and the continued struggles in the second period. What didn’t help was that defenceman Chris Tanev went down with an upper-body injury, which head coach Craig Berube said could miss some time.

Stolarz didn’t see how the injury transpired, but noted how integral the blueliner has been to the team on the backend.

“ He’s obviously a heart and heart and soul guy, meat and potatoes,” he said. “ He’s someone that we love and someone who goes to battle for us day in and day out.  You look at the blocked shots and everything that he does on the defensive side, jumping up in the rush, makes a good first pass. So  hopefully it’s something that he can come back from pretty quickly.”