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