Bobrovsky set to go up against familiar face in Stolarz in East 2nd Round

TORONTO -- The leading man versus the understudy.

That’s what’s in store when the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers clash in their highly anticipated Eastern Conference Second Round matchup that starts next week.

On Florida's side, the Panthers will be backstopped by potential future Hall of Famer Sergei Bobrovsky, whose resume includes two Vezina Trophies as the NHL’s top goalie (2013, 2017) and a Stanley Cup championship ring from a year ago.

At the other end of the ice will be Anthony Stolarz, who served as Bobrovsky’s backup last season and had a front-row seat to his partner’s heroics on Florida’s memorable run to its first Cup championship in franchise history.

Stolarz made only one appearance in the postseason last spring, a stint that lasted just 34:50. When the opportunity came to fight for a starting job in the NHL, a chance he was never going to get in Florida with Bobrovsky in net, the 31-year-old jumped at it and signed a two-year, $5 million contract ($2.5 million average annual value) with the Maple Leafs on July 1.

Now, just more than 10 months since they were sipping champagne out of the Cup in the dressing room, friends will become foes when Florida and Toronto meet for the privilege of playing in the Eastern Conference Final.

It’s a matchup Bobrovsky is looking forward to.

“We had the good relationship,” Bobrovsky said Friday. “It was a good partnership last year, but (this series) is going to be good and it's going to be fun. He's a good goalie and going to be good challenge for us.”

One year you are in a Stanley Cup parade together, the next you are battling against each other for the chance to do it again. It is, Bobrovsky said, part of the unpredictability of the sport, an aspect that saw one-time nemesis Brad Marchand traded by the Boston Bruins to Florida at the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline on March 7.

“In our business, it happens often,” he said. “You know, you play with guys and then you play against them. Like, look at [Marchand], you know, like you never thought you're going to play on the same team with them, and all of a sudden, we compete together now fighting for our dreams. We're going to compete and it's going to be a good challenge again.

“I've been lucky to have great guys, great partners with me. All of them are great guys, and I learned from them as well. So, it's a very productive relationship, you know? And I'm always very supportive. I try to help because at the end of the day we're trying to reach one goal together.”

Not anymore. They no longer are trying to reach that goal together. Right now, in fact, Stolarz’s immediate goal is to help beat Bobrovsky.

Admittedly there was risk in bringing in Stolarz to battle Joseph Woll for Toronto's No. 1 goalie spot. He’d never played more than 28 games in a regular season and there were questions as to whether he’d be able to handle a larger workload.

He definitively answered any doubters by going 21-8-3 with a 2.14 goals-against average and .926 save percentage. He finished the season by winning his final eight starts, posting a 1.37 GAA and .950 save percentage in that stretch with three shutouts in his final four games.

He went on to play all six games for the Maple Leafs in the Eastern Conference First Round against the Ottawa Senators, posting a 2.21 GAA and .901 save percentage. In the process, he rewarded coach Craig Berube’s trust in riding him as the No. 1 choice.

Of course, the Panthers pose a much more elevated challenge than the inexperienced Senators, especially when it comes to traffic around the crease. Suddenly the pesky pair of Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett will be in his face for real, not just in practice like last season.

“It’s going to be like that against any team,” Stolarz said, trying not to give his former Florida teammates any verbal ammunition. “Obviously, you look around the League, I’ve watched a lot of the playoff games. You look at how many pucks go low to high, ‘D’ shoot it, they get through and guys are either tipping or they go straight in. There’s a reason defenseman scoring goes up in the playoffs, because everyone knows you need to win those battles in the trenches.”

Of course, Stolarz’s relationship with Bobrovsky will inevitably be on his mind, too. It’s something he thought about shortly after joining the Maple Leafs last summer.

“He was one hell of a teammate,” Stolarz said at the time. “I’m going to miss him, but at the end of the day, he’s on the dark side now and I’m actually looking forward to playing him next year.”

That time has come.

Time to face the dark side.

Time for the one time understudy to try and help beat the leading man.

NHL.com independent correspondent George Richards contributed to this report