Anthony Stolarz keeps positive tone following Maple Leafs’ fourth straight loss
The Maple Leafs record dropped to 27-24-10 after Monday night’s loss, but goaltender Anthony Stolarz, who stopped 23-of-25 shots, thought the Maple Leafs’ style of play was better than the scoreboard’s end result showed.
“I think we did a lot of really good things tonight,” Stolarz said. “The power play came up with a big goal. The way guys were committing in the defensive zone and getting on the backcheck. That’s how we have to play for a full 60 minutes, and I thought we did that tonight.”
With the trade deadline looming on Friday at 3:00 p.m. EST, Stolarz believes that this group remains focused on trying to gather as many wins as they can to remain in the fight for this year’s playoffs.
“It’s just urgency. Obviously, we know we’ve put ourselves in a tough position here, but we have to go out every night competing and battling. I thought tonight we did a great job of that.”
As losses start to mount and the playoffs become less likely, the mood can sometimes shift to a more negative place, but that’s something that Stolarz believes the Maple Leafs team is going to be able to avoid.
“I think everyone’s staying positive at the end of the day. This is our job and everyone knows that we need to play hard regardless of the situation,” Stolarz said. “The mood around the team is positive and everyone’s just focused on the next game. We’re focused on getting two points and going from there.”
Up next for the Maple Leafs is a back-to-back set, first on Wednesday against the New Jersey Devils, followed by a Thursday night matchup with the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. The Devils and Rangers are two teams that both currently find themselves below the Maple Leafs, in disappointing seasons of their own.
“I think we just need to play like we did tonight. Obviously, we are playing two teams who are battling just like we are, so I think we just have to go out there and continue to work both on the forecheck and backcheck,” Stolarz continued. “We didn’t give up too many grade “A” chances tonight. The guys did a great job of boxing out and letting me see the initial save.”
One of the shootout goals scored on Stolarz, was by Trevor Zegras. With the goal, Zegras pushed his shootout percentage success rate to over 62%, the fourth-highest in NHL history.
“He’s got quite the arsenal of tricks,” Stolarz said. “I played with him for three years in Anaheim, I’ve kind of seen it all, so you never know what to expect with him.”