The anti-Samsonov: Stolarz’ steely stillness changing identity of Leafs’ goaltending

Surely at least a few Leafs fans recognized the play unfolding. The wound probably hasn’t scabbed over.

A loose puck floating tantalizingly in the Toronto zone. A right-shot opposing attacker chasing it down. The last time that happened, 166 days ago, David Pastrnak ended the Leafs’ season in overtime, with goaltender Ilya Samsonov shrinking into the Toronto net as defenseman Morgan Rielly pleaded, “Poke, Sammy!”

Did you catch the brief recreation Wednesday night at Scotiabank Arena? The Los Angeles Kings’ Trevor Lewis had half the Leafs’ zone to himself for a couple seconds. The crowed groaned as he swooped in for a freebie breakaway. But then: Anthony Stolarz appeared. He calmly glided out to left faceoff circle and played the puck off the boards before Lewis could reach it.

Okay, the comparison is melodramatic here. The Leafs were winning the game 4-0 at that point. It wasn’t a dump-in that caromed into the slot, as it did on the Pastrnak goal; it was a John Tavares turnover. It was a play you see hundreds if not thousands of times around the league yearly. But darned if it didn’t feel like a one-second microcosm of a meaningful change in the Leafs’ net.

Stolarz looked like the anti-Samsonov, still and confident in his body language, cruising out of the crease, all 6-foot-6 and 243 pounds of him, to thwart a chance. It was one of roughly a dozen instances Wednesday night in which Stolarz arrived at the right place exactly when the Leafs needed him to. With the Kings making a mini-push early in the third period, down 5-1, Quinton Byfield took a feed from behind the net and fired at what should’ve been a yawning cage. Instead, Stolarz slid into position to deny him, earning a post-save fist bump from Leafs blueliner Simon Benoit.

Stolarz turned aside 32 of 34 Kings shots Wednesday, good for a .941 save percentage in Toronto’s 6-2 victory. At no point was he spastic, unpredictable, volatile, stretching to make athlete-style saves. He looked instead like someone whose heart rate barely elevated all night. And it’s intentional. He’s hyper aware of his body language.

“Absolutely – I think as a goalie that you can kind of control the game,” Stolarz said. “You can get whistles, and when the guys are watching you from the bench, you want to be in control. And obviously the other team, they’re looking at you as well, and if they see you scrambling, they think they’re gonna have some momentum. So for me, it’s just about going out there, being calm, cool, collected, and playing my game. It helps that I’m a bigger guy, so I’m able to play a little deeper, but I also think I’m extremely agile as well, so it’s just a good combination.”

For a Leafs team desperate to mold its identity into that of a clutch outfit who doesn’t choke in high-stake situations, Stolarz sure feels like a fit.

“Body language is big, composure’s huge,” said Leafs coach Craig Berube. “I thought ‘Stoly’ had a great composure tonight in net. That team, they shoot a lot pucks from up top and they got traffic all the time. But he was really poised in the net tonight.”

Tiny sample size? In a Leaf uniform, yes, but his NHL success isn’t brand new. Last season, among goaltenders who played 20 or more games, none saved more goals above expected per 60 minutes than Stolarz – not even Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck. Stolarz only played 27 games and started 24, but he played the position better than anyone relative to his ice time. If you stretch the sample size to the previous three seasons, two of which he played with the Anaheim Ducks; among 91 goalies who played 1,000 or more minutes, Stolarz sat 13^th in save percentage and goals saved above average per 60 minutes at 5-on-5. That was across 74 appearances, so it’s clear Stolarz’s emergence hasn’t come completely out of nowhere.

“Just calm, he’s a big body, he uses his size well, he cuts off the angles,” said Leafs left winger Bobby McMann. “I know in practice there’s not really any net to shoot at when I’m shooting on him. He just stays composed all the time, and it seems like he’s always got the puck in front of him.”

As a 2012 second-round pick of the Philadelphia Flyers, Stolarz was a rated prospect, albeit not an elite one. He won an OHL title with the London Knights one season and led the league in save percentage in another. He thus didn’t break into the league without pedigree. But he battled knee injuries early in his career and didn’t really find his game until he linked up with revered goalie coach Sudarshan ‘Sudsie’ Maharaj with the Ducks beginning in 2019-20. Stolarz’s stock has trended upward since then, and now, at 30, he’s getting the best opportunity of his career.

Stolarz knew that was the case when, after winning the Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers as Sergei Bobrovsky’s backup, the Leafs signed Stolarz for two years at a $2.5 million AAV this past summer. Before the season, Berube said Stolarz would easily blow past his career high of 24 starts. Stolarz was insurance for talented but brittle 1A Joseph Woll, who had endured multiple injury absences across his career.

But even the biggest Woll detractor wouldn’t have predicted he’d land on injured reserve before the regular season began. Stolarz’s opportunity is already bigger than anyone might have imagined. The reason: it’s not like Woll had absolutely cemented himself as the long-term starter. He’s big, poised, athletic and possesses all the tools you want in a future All-Star, but he has just 36 NHL regular-season games to his name and has not yet shown he’s up to a bellcow starting goalie’s workload. It’s thus not inconceivable that Stolarz could flip the 1A/1B arrangement if he continues to look so sturdy and still in Toronto’s net.

“He’s a big boy back there, and his demeanor is huge,” said right winger William Nylander. “Whatever the situation, he’s just solid back there. He’s a tremendous goalie.”

With Dennis Hildeby also looking impressive in his NHL debut last week and two-time Stanley Cup winner Matt Murray about as experienced as you can ask for in a No. 4 goalie down in the AHL, the Leafs’ goaltending feels more secure than it has in a while – with or without Woll.