Maple Leafs’ Anthony Stolarz says ‘enough’s enough’ after OT loss to Kraken

The Toronto Maple Leafs‘ start to the season, having earned seven points in six games, may not seem too bad. According to starting goaltender Anthony Stolarz, however, it hasn’t been good enough. He expressed as much after Saturday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken.

“I mean, it’s just playing hard,” Stolarz told the media after the game. “I mean, maybe we can take a page out of their book and start getting to the net. I mean, for us, we like to go low to high and shoot, but for their goalie, it’s like playing catch in the yard. You’re seeing everything and we’re not making it difficult. We made it difficult in the third and look what happened. We came out, tied the game, got a point out of it, almost scored with five seconds left, but it’s a little too little, too late. We’re six games into the season… enough’s enough and we kind of got to start picking it up here.”

Stolarz’s comments came after having gotten run in the crease by Seattle’s Mason Marchment late in the second period. Notably, Stolarz was the first to come to his own defense, with defensemen Brandon Carlo and Jake McCabe standing by and watching.

In his postgame remarks, Stolarz expressed a greater frustration with his own team than with Marchment. Fairly or unfairly, Toronto has been maligned for “soft” play at various points over the last nine seasons, in which they’ve made the postseason each year led by Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and the now departed Mitch Marner. Stolarz, however, is in just his second season with the Maple Leafs, and he clearly wants to see a grittier, heavier style of play from his team.

Stolarz is coming of a stellar, if injury shortened, campaign last season. In 33 starts, he posted 21 wins to go along with a .926 save percentage and a 2.14 goals against average.

The Maple Leafs host the New Jersey Devils Tuesday, and then play a home-and-home against the Buffalo Sabres Friday and Saturday.