Stolarz, Nylander ‘all good’ after Maple Leafs goalie has harsh words for team following loss

TORONTO -- Two days after Anthony Stolarz called out the Toronto Maple Leafs for underachieving play, the goalie and his teammates agreed only good can come from his words.

“We are on the cusp of doing great things so that’s why I’m so passionate about it,” Stolarz said Monday after practice. “I feel we can go all the way.

“Our goal is to win the Stanley Cup and in order to get there it’s a process. We’ve had some discussions, and we love each other. It’s a family in here.”

His frustration was on full display after a 4-3 overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.

He was especially critical of the play that led to Josh Mahura’s game-winning goal, which came the Kraken defenseman outskated William Nylander in the neutral zone to get in alone. Though he did not mention Nylander by name, it was clear who he was referring to.

“You can’t let someone beat you up the ice there …,” Stolarz said after the game. “You want to be on the ice in that situation, you’ve got to work hard. You’ve got to work back and it cost us a point there.”

Nylander, in his 11th season with the Maple Leafs, said Monday he understood where Stolarz was coming from.

“I think there’s frustration maybe a little bit in the locker room,” Nylander said. “I think we can play better but I think our game has been growing. What are we 3-2-1? It is what it is, but we are a tight-knit group and we move forward from here.

“It’s all good. We’re teammates, he’s a great guy. It’s nothing we need to talk about (in the media). He talked to me after and it’s all good.”

Stolarz, a member of the Stanley Cup-winning Florida Panthers in the 2023-24 season, said he made sure to address the situation with Nylander privately, explaining where his criticism came from while also taking ownership of his shortcoming on the play.

“He’s someone I admire and respect deeply,” said Stolarz, in his second season with Toronto. “There’s a reason he’s been in this League for so long, he’s a hell of a player. He pushes me, I push him. He’s made me a better goalie by facing him every day in practice.

“I get paid to stop the puck, too. At the end of the day, it’s on me as well. It’s a simple job, get in front of the puck and stop it. There are instances as a goalie you have to come up big and right there was prime example.”

The Maple Leafs conclude their five-game homestand on Tuesday, when they face the New Jersey Devils (7 p.m. ET; TSN4, MSG), who have won four in a row.

Though coach Craig Berube would prefer players to keep such pointed criticism internal, he said it is nothing that should be interpreted as discord amongst the team.

“We always want players to hold each other accountable in the locker room,” Berube said. “For me that’s a good thing. I think it’s healthy for the team… Sometimes things get said. We are all big boys. You move on from it and get ready for the next game.”

Defenseman Brandon Carlo told NHL.com he took Stolarz’s comments as an example of the closeness of the team.

“We are only going to get to the place where we all want to end up if we hold each other accountable,” Carlo said. “Throughout the game, there will be times I get frustrated, everybody gets frustrated, people get frustrated with me and you can’t be shy to be able to communicate with your teammates in that regard because it helps us all work toward our goal and we all have the same objective in mind.

“When people are frustrated the best way to work through anything is by communicating. But as a group, we respond well. We have so much love and respect for each other in this room. We know that when we want to hold each other accountable, do it face to face and individually, but overall, I think Anthony is a very competitive player, I love his competitive nature, and I wouldn’t want to change a thing.”

Stolarz also expressed his anger after being contacted in the goal crease on three separate occasions by Kraken players, most notably with 54 seconds remaining in the second period when Mason Marchment crashed into him while taking the puck to the net.

Marchment got a minor penalty for goalie interference. Still, Stolarz threw the net off and started shoving at Marchment, who was on the ice.

“A guy is on his back and it’s not the UFC, you are not going to go and start ground and pounding,” Stolarz said. “You can’t really do much there with him. I know the guys have my back and I have theirs.”

Carlo took some heat from the fans for initially reacting slowly to Stolarz being run into, but the goalie agreed there was not much he could do, especially with Toronto getting a power play and trailing 3-2 at the time.

Carlo did say the Maple Leafs have to improve the way they protect their goalies. It’s especially important with Stolarz (2-2-1) carrying most of the load while goalie Joseph Woll is away from the team indefinitely attending to a personal family matter. Cayden Primeau has started one game for Toronto this season.

“l I think we need to do a better job of protecting him in between the whistles and keeping guys to the outside in general. That was one play where he did get knocked over and we don’t like that by any means but it did result in a power play. It’s just that hardness in front of the net in that area as a whole, not just one play that deters teams.”

With cooler heads and hindsight, Carlo believes this will be a positive turning point for the team to look back on.

“I think little moments like this are always good for a group to reconvene, get back on the same page and works toward the same goal,” he said.