The German youngster, in just his second career game, buried the first goal of his NHL career Saturday night.
"It was definitely a great feeling," Stützle said. "It was a puck which was pretty high in the air. I wanted to get the puck to the net and I thought I hit it pretty good and it went in."
The Ottawa Senators (1-1-0) lost the game 3-2 to the Toronto Maple Leafs (2-1-0) but that couldn't take away from Stützle's moment.
"[The puck] was kind of flat," he said. "D.J. had told us to bring more pucks to the net. I hit it very good."
Trailing 3-1, Sens defenceman Thomas Chabot attempted to dump the puck down the boards but it hit the stick of Toronto forward Jimmy Vesey and flew skywards from the left side of the offensive zone to the right, where Stützle was waiting to pounce.
The puck landed right at his feet and just as it bounced, the 19-year-old let it rip to score his first career goal at the 11:44 mark of the third period.
"I'm a creative player so I want to have the puck and make plays so I thought today I played with more confidence and it worked out pretty good," Stützle said.
Matt Murray made 37 saves in the Ottawa net, his second start in as many nights, while Jack Campbell turned aside 17 shots for the Maple Leafs.
"We just couldn't create much ourselves," Sens head coach D.J. Smith said. "I thought we battled right to the end but give them credit. They came to win today and they deserved the win."
The Senators jumped out to a 1-0 lead at 10:55 on Nicholas Paul's first of the season. Nikita Zaitsev, who would record his third assist of the season, saw his shot hit Paul in the ribs but the puck dropped to Paul's feet where he fired it past Campbell.
Toronto's Joe Thornton would score his first goal as a Maple Leaf at 14:17 to make it 1-1 before Mitch Marner's first of the year 1:10 into the second gave Toronto a 2-1 advantage.
Austin Matthews would push the visitors' lead to 3-1 on the power play 2:42 into the third period.
"They came to play," Smith said. "They checked, they worked really hard. Their penalty kill did the job for them and their goaltending was good."
Stützle's goal would bring the Sens within one but they couldn't find the tying goal. Post-game, the 19-year-old certainly shifted the focus away from himself to the disappointment of not being able to tie the game down the stretch but nevertheless, tonight will be a night that won't be forgotten.
"It was a great feeling and [something] I will never forget. It was awesome."
