OTTAWA — Anthony Stolarz missed an expected start for the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday after taking a puck to the throat during warmups.
The goalie was taken to a hospital for precautionary imaging and released. Coach Craig Berube said after the 5-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre that Stolarz was to meet the team for the flight home to Toronto, but he did not have an update on his condition.
Joseph Woll started and made 38 saves against the Senators.
Forward William Nylander took the shot that hit Stolarz in the throat.
“Obviously it’s, you know, really tough to see that happen,” Nylander said after the game. “I mean, I always come in and shoot puck in the glove, and this one just came off a little bit to the left, and I hit him in the neck. So, I mean, I was obviously worried for him, but, I mean, I’ve been texting with him, so he seems to be OK.”
Woll started for the second straight night; he made 32 saves in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday.
“Obviously, it’s not ideal circumstances, but as a team, you’ve got to rally around them and we’ve got to play for 60 minutes,” Toronto forward John Tavares said. “I saw (Stolarz) before he headed out and seemed to be doing OK. I think everything is pretty precautionary, but yeah, tough when circumstances like that happen.”
Stolarz is 8-9-3 with a 3.34 goals-against average and .894 save percentage in 22 games (21 starts) this season. He missed 33 games earlier this season with an upper-body injury.
Stolarz is in his second season with the Maple Leafs after helping the Florida Panthers win the Stanley Cup as Sergei Bobrovsky‘s backup in 2024. The 32-year-old signed a four-year, $15 million contract ($3.75 million average annual value) with the Maple Leafs on Sept. 28 that runs through the 2029-30 season.
A second-round pick (No. 45) by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2012 NHL Draft, Stolarz is 72-48-15 with a 2.65 GAA, .914 save percentage and 23 shutouts in 164 regular-season games (137 starts) for the Flyers, Edmonton Oilers, Anaheim Ducks, Panthers and Maple Leafs, and 4-2 with a 2.43 GAA and .894 save percentage in eight Stanley Cup Playoff games (seven starts).
Toronto (29-29-13) is 13 points behind the Detroit Red Wings for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference.