‘Hell of a competitor’: Maple Leafs’ Stolarz carries dominance into Game 1 win

TORONTO — Eight hours before the Toronto Maple Leafs took the ice for the first game of their 2025 playoff journey, before the stands had filled to the brim, before the concourse was teeming with signs and hats and jerseys new and old, Craig Berube stood at a podium in the bowels of the arena and distilled the test awaiting his club down to a simple task.

“We’ve just got to be ready for what’s going to come,” the coach had said before Game 1 against the rival Ottawa Senators. “That team’s going to come hard. They’re going to push.”

Well, Sunday night, under the Scotiabank Arena lights, Ottawa pushed — but Toronto pushed harder.

Amid the weeks-long chatter of new eras, of lessons learned, of reasons to believe, it was a night that saw the Maple Leafs offer up something more tangible to hold onto, at least for now — a 6-2 Game 1 drubbing that set the Battle of Ontario off and running.

It’s the type of sure-footed start that’s eluded the blue-and-white for the majority of their playoff lives. Over the past eight seasons since Toronto made its return to the playoffs — beginning with the first season that featured Auston Matthews’ name on the lineup sheet — the club’s waded through nine playoff series. Seven times in that span, Toronto’s dropped the opening game, inviting a wave of criticism, nerves, and pressure before getting the chance to string together any sense of momentum.

This time, they start firmly in the win column. And while much will be said of the offensive outburst that carried them to this rout of the young Sens, there was another piece of Sunday night’s puzzle that wound up just as crucial — the steady brilliance of netminder Anthony Stolarz.

“He made some key saves at some real key times today, I thought,” said John Tavares, whose second-period marker finished as the game winner on the night. “It just speaks to the competitor he is, the type of goalie he is — he’s really starting to prove himself as an elite netminder.”

It wasn’t just the overall body of work Stolarz came up with in Game 1 — though his 31 saves on 33 shots were more than enough to give his club a chance, even if they hadn’t exploded for six goals off the jump. It was something more particular — Stolarz’s ability to affect the flow of the game, to make the big saves at the big moments.

“Timely saves are huge, we all know that — especially in the playoffs, they go a long way,” said Berube once the dust had settled on the night. “And I thought he made some timely saves that were really important, to keep it where it was at and to keep the momentum going. He was huge in that department, for sure.”

The netminder’s best work came midway through the tilt.

Toronto had built up a 2-1 lead in the opening frame. The home side had looked composed, the crowd was on its feet. All seemed to be tilting in their direction. Then, early in the second period, a bobbled puck from Morgan Rielly at the offensive blue line set the Senators flying down the ice.

And there was Brady Tkachuk — whose reputation has ruffled so many feathers around these parts, the fans were chanting ‘Brady Sucks!’ just 10 minutes into the tilt — bearing down on Stolarz, all alone. It was the type of moment that’s sunk Toronto time and time again in the post-season — the ill-fated mistake, the highlight-reel sequence, the momentum killer.

Except this time, Stolarz stood tall, and did what he’s done all year, easily holding Tkachuk at bay. Later in the period, after the Maple Leafs had tagged on two more goals of their own, the Sens made another heavy push — and No. 41 waved that away, too.

“He had to make some huge saves, I thought. In the second period, after we had the 5-on-3, they had three really good opportunities, when it became 5-on-5 — he made some big saves,” said Berube. “I thought he was solid — very solid — tonight.”

For the man himself, it was just another day at the rink. After witnessing first-hand the emotional rollercoaster of a championship run with Florida last season, after pacing his fellow netminders with a statistically dominant regular season, this first-round opener did little to spur any nerves in the veteran ‘tender — despite it being his first-ever post-season start.

“No, no,” Stolarz laughed when asked Sunday night if he felt any nerves during the tilt. “You step on the ice and you obviously have those eager, anxious jitters, just to get going — but once I stepped out there it was all about having some fun, going to work, going to battle with the 19 other guys that were out there.”

For those who share a locker room with him, that unflappable approach has been just as impactful as Stolarz’s play on the ice. And make no mistake, his impact is immense. Among all the factors that render these Maple Leafs potentially different from the iterations that have come before — the hard-nosed style implemented by Berube, the upgraded veteran defence corps, the retooled bottom six — there might not be one more important than the presence of Stolarz, who gives them a steadiness in the cage these Leafs have rarely ever enjoyed.

“You know, we’ve had tremendous goaltending all year, and Stoly’s been obviously a massive part of that,” said Tavares. “I just love his demeanour, his light-heartedness — [but] once those pads and mask go on, he’s a hell of a competitor. He’s barking and he’s competing extremely hard.”

He wasn’t flawless. The Sens did still tag two on the Maple Leafs netminder, the first of those the uglier of the pair — a seemingly harmless shot from distance that turned into chaos at the netfront, before it was shovelled home. Still, it wasn’t enough to get Stolarz off his game when his club needed him most.

“It’s just one of those things. It kind of hops over your stick. That’s part of being a goalie — short-term memory,” the netminder said. “You’ve got to worry about that next shot. The guys really did a good job for me, keeping them to the outside.

“And when my number was called to make a big save, I just tried my best to do that. Our commitment to playing a 200-foot game, blocking shots, having good sticks in lanes, I think was the key to our success tonight.”

His coach echoed the sentiment on that blue-line play, and laid out the blueprint for how Toronto can keep on the right side of this series.

“I thought we checked well with our feet and our sticks tonight, we were hard on our net — doing things right to stay out of the box,” Berube said. “You put yourself in the penalty box when you get on the wrong side of things, and have to make desperate [plays]. We were pretty clean overall with our physicality, and we’ve got to keep doing that.

“We’re disciplined. We’re going to keep being disciplined. We’re going to keep playing hard between the whistles, the right way, and keep being physical. We’re not going to get involved in all the antics after the whistles, or whatever.”

Still, the coach cautioned against getting too far ahead of themselves, of reading too much into any of this — this Game 1 that seemed to check all the boxes, to give legs to the hope the Maple Leafs faithful have been nervy to admit they’re harbouring.

“Listen, it’s one game,” the coach said. “It’s going to get harder, and we all know that.”

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