Getty
Frustrations already boiling over in Toronto?
The Toronto Maple Leafs have a problem. While they have been able to get offense from Morgan Reilly, Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies, and a few others, some defensive issues still plague their game.
In their latest loss to the Seattle Kraken, it was evident to goaltender Anthony Stolarz what the problem was. He made his feelings clear on what the team needs to do differently, and on William Nylander‘s play in overtime.
Anthony Stolarz and William Nylander
Stolarz and Nylander are teammates, but that won’t stop the former from telling the latter that he needs to play better. Nylander was on the ice when the Kraken scored their game-winning goal in overtime on a breakaway.
“A lot of guys have been here for a while. (In) overtime, you can’t let someone beat you up the ice there, gets a clear-cut breakaway,” Stolarz shared with the media after the October 18th game. “A minute left, you want to be on the ice in that situation. You got to work hard, got to work back and cost us a point there.”
“At the end of the day, it’s about working hard, and when we work hard, the results come.”
Observing the replay reveals a few things. Reilly was on his man quickly, but Nylander couldn’t hustle back to defend fast enough to get the inside track on Josh Mahura. Matthews was also on the ice, but wasn’t close enough to Mahura to be held responsible.
Stolarz had a few words to share about the offensive punch of his team. Mainly, how they chose to generate offense in the loss.
“Maybe we can take a page out of their book and start getting to the net,” Stolarz revealed. “I mean, for us, we like to go a little low to high and shoot. For their goalie, it’s like playing catch in their yard. We’re not making it difficult. We made it difficult in the third, and look at what happened, tied the game, almost scored with five seconds left, but it’s too little, too late.”
John Tavares scored with 1:21 left in the third period on the powerplay to tie the game.
Frustration Boiling Over 6 Games into the Season?
GettyAnthony Stolarz
The Maple Leafs’ starting netminder had a lot to say after the team’s loss. A lot of it stems from seeing what the team accomplished last season and wondering why it’s not happening this year yet.
“Being here last year, seeing the team and seeing how far we were able to go,” Stolarz said. “The potential is there, we have the skill, we have the grit, we have the grind. It’s just frustrating that we can’t put it together right now.”
“Even though it’s six games into the season, enough’s enough. We gotta start picking it up here. How many points are we going to leave out there?”
Six games into the 2025-26 season, and the Maple Leafs have a 3-2-1 record.
When it comes to improving their overall play, there needs to be an attacking mentality. Stolarz explained what was missing in the loss to the Kraken and what they can do moving forward.
“It was a good third period, but, (the) first two periods, we let them walk all over us, and we just didn’t play our game,” Stolarz explained to the media. “They out-worked us in front of the net, they blocked shots, they beat us up and down the ice, and the score was indicative of that. They just outworked us, plain and simple.”
“I think we gotta start going into the cage a little harder, making it harder for their goalies.”
Sure, the Maple Leafs could make a trade or two to acquire a player who will crash the net more and wreak havoc. Evander Kane is in the last year of his contract and is off to a rough start with the Vancouver Canucks. Tage Thompson could be an option as well if the Buffalo Sabres continue their decline.
One way or another, the Maple Leafs need to change what they are doing if they want to put themselves in the best position possible.
Caleb Kerney Caleb covers the NHL for Heavy.com. He has covered professional hockey since 2022, including bylines at Dobber Prospects, The Hockey Writers, and The Hockey News. More about Caleb Kerney
More Heavy on Maple Leafs
Loading more stories
