Details about injury timeline for Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Stolarz revealed
Earlier in the week, former Toronto Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe offered up a compliment for his former employer, stating that the team had the “best goaltending in the league” after a 2-1 win over Keefe’s Devils.
Just a few days later, the Leafs will be set to test that theory, as the man in net that night, Anthony Stolarz, is now out with a lower-body injury suffered against the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday evening.
“It is concerning for sure. I didn’t see when it happened in the game or anything, but hopefully, we get good news out of it,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said on Thursday night. “It was in between periods. He got checked out and couldn’t go.”
On Friday morning, the news was delivered that Stolarz would be day-to-day. As Berube said, the team got “good news overall” on his injury, though no further specifics were given.
Luckily for the Leafs, Joseph Woll can likely shoulder most of the goaltending load while Stolarz is out. Dennis Hildeby was also recalled from the Toronto Marlies on an emergency basis.
“It is important [to have another goalie like Woll]. I thought Woll did a really good job coming in. That’s never easy. He made a couple of big saves for us — one in the third, later on in the third. He did a good job coming in,” Berube added. “It is important. We are fortunate to have two guys who have played extremely well this year.”
Woll is 8-3-0 in 11 games with a goals-against average of 2.16 and a save percentage of .921 for the Leafs this season, while Stolarz has gone 9-5-2 in 17 games with a goals-against average of 2.15 and a save percentage of .927.
“It’s kind of mixed emotions. Obviously, I’m sad for him, I’ve been hurt and whatnot, and at the same time, I got a job to do. Hopefully he’s alright,” Woll said Thursday night.
The Leafs head into this weekend with a back-to-back on opposite sides of the American border. They’ll head to Detroit tomorrow night for a date against the Red Wings before hosting the Buffalo Sabres for a rare 5 pm ET Sunday start to close out the weekend.
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