Bennett-Stolarz debate adds more juice to Panthers-Maple Leafs 2nd-round series

TORONTO -- Sam Bennett said he exchanged messages with Anthony Stolarz Tuesday morning and indicated the two pals and former teammates are moving forward.

The same can’t be said for the city of Toronto, which on Tuesday was still in a collective rage aimed directly at the Florida Panthers forward.

So much so that the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 5-4 victory against the Panthers in Game 1 of their best-of-7 Eastern Conference Second Round became a sidebar, overshadowed by the fact that Stolarz left the game after getting ill on the bench and then was taken via stretcher to a hospital Monday. All of this happening a few minutes after Bennett made contact with the head of the Toronto goalie in the second period.

You wanted drama, complete with juicy animosity? You got it.

Obviously, the most important news of the day was that Stolarz was back with his teammates at the Maple Leafs practice facility.

“He’s doing well. He’s here,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said.

However, Joseph Woll will start Game 2 on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, ESPN) with Stolarz unavailable.

Did the goalie suffer a concussion on the play?

“Don’t know that either,” Berube said, adding that he had no comment on Bennett not being disciplined by the NHL for the play, saying, “it’s over.”

What we do know is that Stolarz’s teammates were thrilled to see him just 12 hours after such a scary incident.

“I think he’s doing well,” Maple Leafs defenseman Brandon Carlo said. “I’ll allow coach to give any updates on that but overall I liked the way he looked this morning when I got to see him for a smile at breakfast.

“That’s always a good thing.”

Stolarz’s painful evening began at 5:08 of the first period when a shot from Panthers forward Sam Reinhart struck him on the helmet. Play was immediately stopped while the Maple Leafs goalie adjusted the straps on his mask.

Then came the moment at 7:16 of the second period when Bennett made contact with Stolarz’s head during a scramble in front of the Maple Leafs net.

Three minutes later, during a television timeout, Stolarz skated to the bench and began vomiting, meaning Woll would come in to take over. By the third period, he was in an ambulance leaving Scotiabank Arena.

Bennett, who played with Stolarz during Florida’s Stanley Cup run of 2024, said there was absolutely no intent to injure on his part.

“Obviously I heard he went to the hospital last night,” Bennett said Tuesday. “’Stolie’s’ a good friend of mine. I reached out to him and he responded.

“Obviously never want to see an injury like that. From my point of view, I was just taking the puck to the net. I didn’t even know we’d made contact until after. I mean, we’re on the power play. I’m trying to score. That’s really all there is to it.”

Not for Toronto fans.

Or some segment of the local media here, for that matter.

That’s because an incident involving Bennett from two years earlier is still fresh in everyone’s minds.

During Game 2 of the 2023 second round, Bennett and Maple Leafs forward Matthew Knies got tangled up before Bennett slammed the Toronto rookie to the ice, causing a concussion.

Knies finished the period but would not play in the remainder of the best-of-7 series, which the Panthers won in five games.

Given the frenzy right now surrounding Bennett, who grew up 35 miles north of Toronto in the town of Holland Landing, Panthers coach Paul Maurice clicked on his television Tuesday morning and saw a replay of that incident.

And a whole lot more of them too.

"I've seen every hit that Sam Bennett's thrown since he was 12 years old on TV this morning,” Maurice said.

"Most of this for me is tempered by the fact that Stolie is one of our guys,” he added. “We love that guy. If I had thought that Sam had crossed the line or an edge, I'd probably be more careful with my words. I just didn't think it happened.”

For his part, Bennett said he gets where the venom aimed at him is coming from.

“I think I can understand why people reacted that way because Stolie’s injured,” he said. “Of course, when your starting goalie is injured, people are going to be upset.

“Looking back at the video the contact that was made was, in my opinion, just a bump. I mean, I’m trying to score. The last thing on my mind is elbowing him in the head.”

Prior to the incident, former Boston Bruins superpest Brad Marchand, now Bennett’s pesky teammate with the Panthers, was Public Enemy No. 1 in Toronto and was jeered pretty much every time he touched the puck. After Stolarz left the ice and was replaced by backup Woll, it was Bennett who was showered with jeers.

Even with that, Berube said he is preaching discipline and doesn’t want his team to seek revenge against the Panthers for the Stolarz injury. That’s a far cry from his own NHL career from 1987-2004 when he compiled 3,149 penalty minutes, seventh most in NHL history.

Would there have been retaliation back in his playing days?

“When I played, somebody probably would have done something right away,” he said, breaking into laughter.

“Probably me.”

We’ll see what happens in Game 2, but there’s no doubt a series that already had plenty of juice with the Maple Leafs and the Stanley Cup champs going head to head just got juicier.