The Maple Leafs held a practice at Ford Performance Centre on Monday before travelling to Boston.
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What did Anthony Stolarz feel when an errant William Nylander shot struck him in the neck during warm-up on Saturday night?
“Just kind of shock,” the Leafs goalie said. “It’s something that happens. It’s an occupational hazard. You get pucks coming at you anywhere from 70 to 100 miles per hour, they’re going to catch you in a bad spot once in a while. So, just kind of shock. I kind of seized up. It was a little difficult to breathe and talk, but after about 30, 40 minutes it all started coming back to me.”
Stolarz was sent to the hospital by medical staff as a precaution.
“Just did a quick scan to make sure there was no damaged blood vessels or anything,” he said. “I did that and everything checked out so I was able to travel back with the team.”
Stolarz dealt with some swelling but, all things considered, it could’ve been worse.
“It got me right between the seam where the neck and collarbone [meet], there’s a little area and it just kind of caught me,” he said. “I’m just fortunate it wasn’t puck on skin, because that would’ve been definitely a lot worse.”
The Leafs called up goalie Dennis Hildeby from the American Hockey League on an emergency basis, but Stolarz felt well enough to take part in Monday’s practice.
Did he feel any lingering effects from Nylander’s shot?
“I got to wear that dangler now just for a little more protection,” he said of the plastic neck guard, which hung off his mask. “It’s just a little precautionary thing. It is a little annoying to wear that as a goalie. You just hear that plastic clanging around against your mask, so I guess that’s probably the only lingering effect.”
Stolarz initially shed the dangler when he made the jump to junior hockey.
“My parents were always big on that and then once you turn 18 and start playing juniors it’s not the best style,” he said with a smile. “You always try and get away from it but, for the time being, it’s good to wear. Good for the protection. I have one of those neck pieces that goes around your neck and into your collarbone, and I was fortunate that I was wearing that.”
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Following practice, Craig Berube said he had not decided who will start for the Leafs on Tuesday in Boston.
“But it’s good that he’s okay,” the coach noted of Stolarz.
Stolarz is looking to get another shot at the Bruins after two ill-fated appearances against them early in the season. Stolarz allowed four goals on 19 shots before being pulled on Nov. 8. In the rematch on Nov. 11 at TD Garden, Stolarz allowed three goals on 11 shots before exiting with a mystery injury later revealed to be a nerve issue, which kept him sidelined until Jan. 23.
Stolarz, who has played just once in the last 16 days, is understandably eager to get back in. Has the lack of playing time lately bothered him?
“I’m competitive but, at this juncture, you just kind of roll with the punches,” the 32-year-old said. “I’ve been a back-up, I’ve been a starter in this league, so my mindset every day is the same. Just come in, compete, work hard, push my goalie partner and push the guys who are shooting on you every day. I don’t make those decisions, but I feel good where I’m at. I was supposed to play the other night and it was unfortunate, but my last couple starts here I feel good. For me it’s about that consistency and finishing the year strong here.”
Stolarz appears to be trending in the right direction. He is 1-2-2 with a .922 save percentage since returning from the Olympic break.
‘A little difficult to breathe’: Leafs’ Stolarz returns to practice after taking shot off throat Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz was back on the ice Monday after being taken to hospital on Saturday when he was hit in the throat during warmups. Stolarz was sporting a neck guard and spoke about his desire to get back in action.
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Nylander was apologetic after Saturday’s game.
“I try to shoot, like, for the glove,” he told reporters in Ottawa. “I’m always doing the same shot so, I mean, it just came off a little off on that shot. I feel really bad.”
Stolarz told his teammate not to worry.
“I told him, ‘It happens,’” Stolarz said. “It’s been 160 games I’ve had with Willy through the last two years and watching him every game he always goes to the same spot and he always goes to that glove area and this one was just a riser. It’s something that happens, puck bounces, pucks continue to fly up, so he’s good. It’s a one-off. I’m sure it will happen again whether it’s him or someone else.”
The team is already joking about what happened with injured captain Auston Matthews chiming in.
“Tone said, ‘Next time just keep your chin tucked,’” Stolarz said with a smile. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Berube recalled catching his goalies up high during his playing days.
“Got chased down a couple of times,” Berube said with a chuckle. “[Ron] Hextall didn’t like it too much and [Olaf] Kolzig, they were guys that got a little pissed off.”
Did Hextall ever catch him?
“Oh, buddy,” Berube said with a grin. “He didn’t want to catch me.”
Stolarz has no problem with Nylander’s high warm-up shot; reveals advice from Matthews It was William Nylander’s warm-up shot that took out Anthony Stolarz prior to Saturday’s game but the Leafs netminder is not blaming his forward for the unfortunate shot. Nylander spoke about what happened on Saturday while Stolarz called it ‘an occupational hazard of being a goalie.’
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Joseph Woll also experienced an injury scare on Saturday night as he took a few shots off the head.
“My poor mask was taking a beating,” he told reporters with a smile after the game. “It broke, we fixed it, and it broke again … [Gotta] check my brain after that game. That’s the most I’ve got hit in my head, for sure.”
Those types of shots aren’t always a bad thing, apparently.
“It’s fine,” the 27-year-old stressed. “Sometimes it wakes you up and jolts you back in, so it can be a good thing too.”
Woll has started six of Toronto’s last seven games and faced the most shots in the NHL (219) since the run began on March 10. Boston’s Jeremy Swayman has faced the second most shots (171) during that time span.
“I just stick to my routine as best as I can and let everything else fall into place,” Woll said of managing the workload.
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The Leafs are holding their annual Mentors Trip this week with each player allowed to invite a guest to Boston.
“It could bring a little bit of juice and energy and a little bit of excitement into the locker room,” said winger Matthew Knies.
“It always adds a little extra juice,” Berube said.
Stolarz is bringing his big brother Todd, 43, who was also his guest last year.
“He’s probably been the biggest influence to me in my career,” the New Jersey native said. “Just driving me to the rink when I was younger when my parents had work. He was my goalie coach in PeeWee and Bantam. He’s always watching my games and giving me little tidbits here and there.”
Woll also brought his brother to Boston.
‘It could bring juice’: Playing out the stretch, Leafs hope mentors trip creates a spark The Maple Leafs will be headed to Boston for Tuesday’s game and the players will be bringing some special guests on the trip. Individual mentors will tag along and it will offer a unique opportunity for the players to allow those close to them a chance to experience the NHL life.
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The Leafs have won just five times in the last 23 games so the chance to bring some friendly faces on the road is a welcome boost
The Leafs current five wins in 23 games stretch is about as bad as it gets. They had only done this four times in the last 30 years:
Start of 2009-10 season
2011-12 “18 wheeler off cliff”
End of 2014-15 (Horachek)
End of 2015-16 tank year
— James Mirtle (@mirtle) March 23, 2026
Brandon Carlo is bringing his grandpa Ed Ristau.
“He was in the Air Force for a while and then afterwards, when he retired, settled down in Colorado Springs and that’s where I’m from,” the defenceman said. “He flew the tow planes in Colorado Springs for about 30 years with all the cadets at the Air Force Academy. He would pull them up and he would be in the tow plane and they would be in the glider, because gliders don’t have an engine so he would have to pull them up and release them up there. He loved doing that job.”
Carlo says he learned a lot about character from his grandfather.
“I’m very proud to be his grandson,” the 29-year-old beamed.
Carlo’s faced some criticism in Toronto recently, along with teammates, for not jumping in to defend Matthews after Ducks defenceman Radko Gudas injured the star centre with a knee-on-knee hit on March 12.
“It happened fast,” said Carlo, who is the tallest (6-foot-5, equal with Philippe Myers) and heaviest defenceman (227 pounds) on the team. “Obviously, wish we would’ve been able to react differently.”
Monday marked Carlo’s first media scrum since the game against Anaheim.
“Once we saw it afterwards [it’s] tough,” he said. “But [the] onus is on us. I take accountability for that. I want to be there for my teammates. That was a mistake for sure but, overall, it did happen fast. But I’m not going sit here and discredit that we needed to do something there.”
The Matthews injury is not the only reason Carlo has been in the spotlight lately. There’s also the pending situation with Toronto’s first-round pick in the upcoming draft.
At the trade deadline last year, the Leafs sent top prospect Fraser Minten and their first-round pick in the 2026 draft (top-five protected) to the Bruins in exchange for Carlo, who is under contract through next season. With the Leafs potentially now sending a high pick to their division rivals, the trade is a big talking point in Toronto.
Is that tough?
“A little bit,” Carlo readily admits. “Try not to pay attention to it too much … If you’re in the NHL environment there’s going to be a lot of things you need to tune out throughout your career so just put it in that category with most of those things and just continue forward.”
The Leafs sit 25th overall heading into Tuesday’s game in Boston.
Hot or Not: Leafs will finish bottom 5 and keep their first-round pick Will the Maple Leafs finish in the bottom 5 and get to keep their 2026 first-round pick? Will Alex Ovechkin continue playing and reach 1,000 career regular season goals? Will Nikita Kucherov capture his second Hart Trophy this year? TSN Hockey analyst Martin Biron shares his answers in Montana’s Hot or Not.
Minten is currently skating on Boston’s top line beside David Pastrnak. He has scored 15 goals on the season while Carlo, who dealt with a nagging foot injury that required surgery this year, is still searching for his first goal with the Leafs. He hasn’t scored in the NHL since Oct. 14, 2014.
Despite being a defensive-minded defenceman, Carlo acknowledges that “for sure” the 127-game drought weighs on him.
“It’s not necessarily the thing that I’m on the ice for but, overall, I’d like to contribute in that regard,” he said. “Just keep shooting. Shooting more could help.”
Carlo has seven assists in 48 games this season. He owns the second best plus-minus mark (plus-nine) on the team.
Carlo admits it’s a little bit tough to tune out talk about trade and Leafs first-round pick status Brandon Carlo will be playing his second game in Boston since being traded to the Maple Leafs and it has been hard for him to escape all the talk about the status of the Leafs’ 2026 first-round pick. The defenceman spoke about how he has tuned out the excess noise and what the Boston-Toronto rivalry means having experienced it from both sides.
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Easton Cowan identified Ottawa’s opening goal, which came on a first-period power play, as the turning point in Saturday’s game.
“We started off pretty strong,” the rookie winger told reporters in Ottawa. “They scored and I feel like it deflated us a bit.”
Berube bristled when that comment was relayed to him.
“I don’t know why they would be ‘deflated’ after we gave up a power-play goal,” Berube told reporters. “We broke a stick, we’re trying to get a stick, and they scored a goal, but big deal. We played a good first period.”
The Senators outshot the Leafs 9-6 in the first period, but then tilted the shot clock 35-8 over the final 40 minutes.
“I don’t understand the thought process that you don’t follow it up and be ready to go in the second and know they’re going to push,” Berube said. “We don’t respond well enough. I don’t understand this ‘deflated’ stuff, to be honest with you. I think it’s a cop out.”
After Monday’s workout, only the team’s second full practice since games resumed following the Olympics, Berube appealed to his players’ sense of pride.
“The X’s and O’s are the X’s and O’s, but it’s about showing up every night and competing at a high level,” he said. “That’s what’s important for me. Yes, there’s mistakes and things that happen in the game, but where’s your compete level? Where are you playing for the crest on the front of the jersey? That’s what matters to me.”
Leafs Ice Chips: Berube urges players to compete at high level for the crest The Maple Leafs came away with a loss in the Battle of Ontario over the weekend and after Monday’s practice, head coach Craig Berube explained how he will be communicating with players down the final stretch of the season. TSN’s Mark Masters has more on Berube’s message and Oliver Ekman-Larsson leaving practice early.
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Defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson departed practice midway through the session and did not return.
“Something was bugging him, so he left,” Berube said. “That’s it, really. He should be fine.”
Berube chuckled.
“I really don’t know,” the coach continued. “I haven’t talked to the trainers yet. I was just told he was fine so he should be fine tomorrow.”
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After missing Saturday’s game with a lower-body injury, defenceman Morgan Rielly skated beside Carlo on his regular pairing at practice. He also took reps on the top power-play unit.
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Lines at Monday’s practice:
Cowan – Tavares – Nylander
Knies – Domi – Robertson
Maccelli – Groulx – Joshua
Lorentz – Quillan – Jarnkrok
Pezzetta
Rielly – Carlo
McCabe – Stecher
Benoit – Myers
Woll
Stolarz
Power-play units at Monday’s practice:
QB: Rielly
Flanks: Cowan, Nylander
Middle: Tavares
Net front: Knies
QB: McCabe
Flanks: Domi, Maccelli
Middle: Robertson
Net front: Joshua