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The Toronto Maple Leafs hope to claim a two-game series lead over the Florida Panthers when the two rivals reconvene for Game 2 of their Stanley Cup Playoff series on Wednesday evening.
Toronto will not have goaltender Anthony Stolarz between the pipes after he was hurt in Game 1 following a collision with Panthers forward Sam Bennett. The Maple Leafs have confirmed that Joseph Woll will start, with Matt Murray (recently called up from the American Hockey League) will back him up.
Head coach Craig Berube was asked about his goaltender's condition and responded with a concise answer, via ESPN.
“He's fine,” Berube said. “He's doing OK.”
Stolarz was replaced by Woll after his injury, the second-consecutive season in the Stanley Cup Playoffs that Woll has entered a series after initially starting on the bench. Last season, he supplanted now-former Leafs teammate Ilya Samsonov in their opening round matchup against the Boston Bruins before going down with an injury of his own.
Before his injury that took him from Game 1 against the Panthers, Stolarz had helped Toronto defeat the Ottawa Senators four games to two, going 4-2 with a 2.19 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage.
Game 2 between the Maple Leafs and Panthers is scheduled to begin at 7:00 PM EST.
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Anthony Stolarz's teammates are relieved he's out of the hospital
The injury to Stolarz, which resulted in him being seen vomiting at the Toronto bench and even reportedly being stretchered out of Scotiabank Arena, resulted in a brief hospitalization. The good news for Stolarz is that he's since been released, and was even with the rest of his teammates recently at the club practice facility.
Teammate Brandon Carlo stated that making sure Stolarz is healthy was the most important thing but that his presence at the facility following the scary incident was a welcome sight.
“It's just about checking in on him,” Carlo said. “We all care first and foremost about the human being rather than the hockey player. That's the most important part, and we're just reminding him of that and definitely trying to boost his spirits. We want to be there for the human being, and the hockey player will be back before you know it.”
Stolarz is playing in his first season with the Maple Leafs after having played last campaign with Florida; he backed up Sergei Bobrovsky as the Panthers won the first Stanley Cup in franchise history.
