SEATTLE — The greatest reason for belief that things could be different this time wears a mask.
A couple different masks, actually.
Sure, the Toronto Maple Leafs will, mostly, take the “same cast of characters” (as rival coach Jon Cooper puts it) into the post-season.
But that cast has never had goaltending support the likes that has been on display during their so far perfect 3-0 road trip out west. Or all season long, for that matter.
If it wasn’t enough to see Joseph Woll shoulder his heaviest NHL workload yet and make buzzer-beating saves in enemy barns, partner Anthony Stolarz looks like… well, like the Anthony Stolarz of two months ago — before being sidelined by a knee operation.
“Looked like he didn’t miss a beat,” said defenceman Philippe Myers, following Thursday’s 3-1 win over the Seattle Kraken. “One of the best goalies in the league, and really happy to have him back.”
Stolarz, a self-confessed perfectionist, was reluctant to place a timeline for return after he went under the knife to repair a knee that has needed repairs in the past.
It wasn’t until Tuesday in Calgary that he and Leafs goalie coach Curtis Sanford circled this night at Climate Pledge Arena — eight weeks from the day of injury — for return, nicely tucking in a confidence-boosting start before the league scatters for the 4 Nations Face-Off break this weekend.
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Stolarz’s knee, which had a pebble-sized fragment removed, has been healed for a while now. His ramp-up practises have been all about getting his timing down, his conditioning up. About feeling ready.
“Missing that much time, you want to come out and have a positive result and get the two points,” said Stolarz, after saving 26 of 27 shots and improving his save percentage to a sparkling .929.
“But the guys did a great job tonight, helping me ease back into it and let me see lot of the pucks, and I just had to make the saves.”
Eight of those saves came on a perfect and necessary five-for-five performance from the Leafs’ aggressive and structured penalty kill.
And one of them came on a quality chance from former teammate and fellow Cup champ Brandon Montour — at whom Stolarz winked when flashing the leather.
Montour couldn’t help but shake his head and smile.
“We had bodies in front that were on my blocker side. So I knew he was a righty, and he was going to try to shoot glove,” Stolarz recalled. “I threw everything out there, and lucky it went into my glove.”
As impressive as Stolarz’s stats, his body language screamed, “I’m back.” The big man was whipping the glove, punching his blocker at oncoming pucks, and playing every dump-in with aggression.
“He’s a big part of his team. We know that. When he was out, we missed him,” coach Craig Berube said. “He played a heck of a game.”
As meditative and elastic as Woll performs the same job, Stolarz brings a borderline violent swagger to the profession. Both are battlers, but their aesthetics and personalities differ.
After one early sequence of desperate blocker stabs prevented the Kraken from tying the contest, all Stolarz’s teammates stood up on the bench and whacked their sticks on the boards in appreciation.
Is it possible to overstate the trickle effect of having not one but two netminders capable of stealing or sealing a win?
“You feel it all the way through,” says a thoughtful Bobby McMann. “You know that sometimes you’re going to give up some tough looks. And they’ve been there, backstopping us all year.
“And sometimes we even take advantage of it. But we definitely want to appreciate them every single game and every single play and every big stop that they make. Because it really drives us.”
The tantalizing aspect of a healthy Stolarz-Woll tandem — besides being locked up for cheap through 2025-26 — is that Toronto should enter its first playoff series with a goaltending edge.
Maybe its second and third, too. These guys are playing that well.
And with Stolarz healthy, there is no reason both halves of the best Leafs tandem in years can’t help each other rest for what matters.
“He was awesome again tonight,” Mitch Marner said of same ’ol Stolarz. “But we’re comfortable with either those goalies in our net.”
• Toronto’s newly formed unit of Marner, John Tavares, and William Nylander united the team’s top three scorers. Combined they’ve racked up 171 points.
Funny when a “second” line features the NHL’s second-highest goal-scorer plus the fastest Leaf to 500 assists.
“I don’t really want solo achievements in this league or enjoy them as much as maybe people should. So, a lot of credit to the guys around me that have been here with me since Day 1 and some guys that have moved on. They’re the ones put the puck in,” said Marner, the third-fastest active player to hit the milestone (Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid).
“I’ll enjoy it for the night and then forget about it.”
• Matthew Knies extended his goal streak on a debatable deflection that got upheld after a high-stick video review.
Funny thing is, Knies gathered his teammates for a quick chat after the puck went in and pushed shooter Jake McCabe to the front of the celebratory bench parade.
“I think he was trying to fool the ref there a little bit. Good play by him,” McMann smirked. “It was nice that he swiped down on it, because it was very close.”
Added Berube: “I think it’s close. It’s very close. But when they call (a goal) on the ice, it takes a lot to overturn it.”
• Auston Matthews is quietly on a season-long five-game goal drought… but has already piled up six assists on this road trip.
• Conor Timmins sustained an upper-body injury from a Brayden Pachal elbow during Tuesday’s win in Calgary. Timmins needed help to the room after taking the shot and drawing an interference penalty.
Though he later returned to that game, Timmins was too hurt to play Thursday in Seattle.
That opened the door for replacement Myers to rip his first goal as a Leaf — and first in the NHL since Nov. 17, 2022.
How did it feel, after an 812-day wait?
“Felt really good to see that one go in. I was just trying to get the puck on net, got a fortunate bounce there, and I’ll take it,” Myers said.
“My mentality is, when your name gets called, be ready to go and work your bag off it every day when you go to the rink, whether you’re playing or not, and stay positive.”
• Battle of the block brothers!
Toronto’s Chris Tanev leads all NHL defencemen in blocked shots (146). Seattle’s Brandon Tanev leads all forwards in the same category (87).
