Leafs make a surprising move with goaltender Anthony Stolarz

UPDATE: According to a report from Leafs insider David Alter, the team will go with Anthony Stolarz this evening against the New Jersey Devils, making it his 6th start in 7 games.

From Alter:

Leafs head coach Craig Berube is leaning on Stolarz in the absence of Joseph Woll, who is still on a personal leave.

Read below for our earlier report on Stolarz, published this morning.

Following Saturday’s overtime loss, to the Seattle Kraken, Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz called out his team for their inconsistent play to start the season. In particular he singled out star forward William Nylander for a poor effort on the Kraken’s game-winning goal.

“You can’t let someone beat you up the ice there …,” Stolarz said after the game. “You want to be on the ice in that situation, you’ve got to work hard. You’ve got to work back and it cost us a point there."

Here's the play in question, watch number 88 on the backcheck:

Yesterday, Stolarz walked back those comments a bit and confirmed to reporters that he has spoken directly with Nylander to smooth things over.

“He’s someone I admire and someone I respect deeply,” Stolarz said. “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. You look at his offensive skill, he’s made me a better goalie just by facing him every day in practice.”

“I get paid to stop the puck too,” Stolarz said. “At the end of the day, it’s on me as well.”

As for Nylander, nothing seems to effect this guy.

“It’s all good,” Nylander assured reporters on Monday. “Look, we’re teammates. He’s a great guy. There’s nothing that we need to, you know, talk about here. He talked to me after and it’s all good. It’s been no issue since.”

Nylander even went so far as to say that he doesn't even remember the play or the goal.

“To be honest, I don’t really remember it,” Nylander said. “I haven’t seen it since so I don’t know. I think he just beat me, beat me up the ice there. That’s all I can really remember.”

Call me crazy... but I think this might be part of the problem?