The Toronto Maple Leafs received a blunt message from goaltender Anthony Stolarz following Saturday’s overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken.
“You know, how many points are we going to leave out there?” Stolarz said, per TSN’s Mark Masters. “The potential’s there. Like, we have the skill. We have the grit. We have the grind. It’s just frustrating that we can’t put it together right now.”
The 31-year-old netminder took issue with Toronto’s execution in overtime. The Leafs dropped to 3-2-1 to open the season.
“I mean, a lot of guys have been here for a while,” Stolarz said. “Overtime. You can’t let someone beat you up the ice there and he gets a clear-cut breakaway. A minute left, you want to be on the ice in that situation, you gotta work hard. … It cost us a point.”
Stolarz appeared to reference Kraken defenseman Josh Mahura beating William Nylander in the neutral zone. Mahura scored the game-winning goal on a breakaway.
The goaltender nearly lost his composure during the second period after a collision with Mason Marchment. That play came minutes after Brandon Carlo shoved a Kraken skater into Stolarz before Seattle’s third goal.
Mason Marchment crashed into the Leafs’ net, and Anthony Stolarz wasn’t having it. pic.twitter.com/zjBXbyIPh7
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 19, 2025
Stolarz thinks his teammates could benefit from disrupting the net-front like their opponents.
“I mean, it’s just playing hard,” Stolarz said, according to Sportsnet. “Maybe we can take a page out of their book and start getting to the net. For us, we like to go low to high and shoot. For their goalie, it’s like playing catch in the yard. He’s seeing everything. We’re not making it difficult.”
The Maple Leafs prefer a low-to-high shooting approach that gives opposing goaltenders clear sight lines.
Stolarz added his frustration with players crashing the net. “I mean, I’m not happy. Guys are going to run me and I’m going to try to stand up for myself. … It’s not fun, I don’t like having 225-pound guys landing on me. So hopefully we learned a lesson here.”
Stolarz’s playoff run this past spring was cut short in the second round. He was injured in a collision with Florida Panthers agitator Sam Bennett.
Stolarz entered Saturday’s contest with a .907 save percentage in four previous starts this season.
He signed a four-year extension with Toronto in September.
