Anthony Stolarz gave the Maple Leafs exactly what they needed in Vancouver on Saturday, and now Toronto has a goalie question it can’t ignore.
The Leafs pulled out the win on the road behind Auston Matthews, steady work on the back end, and a game-winner from Zack MacEwen of all people. But the biggest difference-maker was Stolarz, who kept Toronto afloat with big stops throughout the night and only got beat when there was essentially no chance to make the save.
That performance pushed him to his fifth win of the season and sharpened the issue facing the club: do the Leafs keep riding Stolarz, or do they go back to Sergei Bobrovsky?
Toronto made a major bet on Bobrovsky over the summer, signing him to a three-year, $21M deal and moving out both Joseph Woll and Dennis Hildeby in separate trades to clear the way. So far, that move has not delivered the way the team expected. Bobrovsky is 3-5-2 with a 3.29 GAA and .885 SV%, numbers that have left him looking merely average at best.
Stolarz, meanwhile, has looked like a goalie with something to prove. He’s 5-1-0 with a 2.66 GAA and .910 SV%, and he’s shown he can handle the chaos in front of him while staying healthy and dependable. Those are the kind of numbers he posted in 2024-25, and he’s backed them up again early this season.
The challenge for Toronto is figuring out how to use him without overloading him. The answer can’t be to pile on starts and hope for the best. A lighter rhythm, with a few days between outings, makes more sense if the Leafs want to protect him and keep him effective.
That timing lines up neatly with the schedule. Toronto plays Utah on Tuesday, then doesn’t play again until Saturday against Montreal. A week off for Bobrovsky could help him reset, but it also opens the door for Stolarz to keep the net while still getting enough rest.
November is where the juggling act gets tougher. After the first week of the month, the Maple Leafs have four games in seven days. The suggested rotation would look like this:
Nov. 3 - Stolarz
Nov. 7 - Bobrovsky
Nov. 8 - Stolarz
Nov. 10 - Stolarz
Nov. 12 - Bobrovsky
Nov. 14 - Bobrovsky
That setup would give Stolarz five days between starts early in the month, let him handle the second game of a back-to-back against New Jersey, and then have him back for the final game of that stretch against Colorado.
Bobrovsky would get Montreal, Minnesota and Edmonton, and those are three teams he has a combined 45-23-2 record against. Edmonton is the toughest of the group for him, but even there he owns a 2.85 GAA and .900 SV%.
It may not be the cleanest solution, and it may not be how Jim Hiller prefers to run his goaltending, but if Toronto wants to keep stacking wins, this is the decision sitting right in front of them.
In Other News...
Leafs Win Still Came With The Problem Fans Keep Seeing
The win in Vancouver gave the Maple Leafs a clean result to take home, but Jim Hiller still spent much of his postgame talking about the parts of the game that need to settle in. After the 4-2 finish, the coach pointed to the teams uneven play through 16 games, while also noting encouraging signs from Anthony Stolarz in goal and the way Torontos forecheck took over in the second period. With a busy road trip behind them, the Leafs are now looking at practice time as a chance to tighten up some of the details that have kept the group from looking fully connected.
Hiller also touched on the ongoing adjustment for Gavin McKenna, whose transition to the NHL level remains a work in progress, even as the coaching staff keeps searching for the right combinations. The returns of Dakota Joshua and Chris Tanev were part of that broader picture, too, as Toronto continues to sort out how its lineup pieces fit together after time away. For a team that can still bank points while leaving questions on the table, the next stretch may say as much about its growth as the final score did. [Read more 🡒]
Maple Leafs Are Waiting On A Kirill Marchenko Recovery Twist
Kirill Marchenkos status has become one of the quieter concerns hanging over the Maple Leafs, with the forward currently sidelined by a lower-body injury and the team still without a clear timeline for his return. For a club trying to keep its forward group intact, the uncertainty matters just as much as the injury itself, especially when a players availability can shape how the lineup is managed night to night.
Marchenko has at least offered a small glimpse of progress away from the rink, appearing on social media in a knee brace while working through stickhandling exercises at home. It is the kind of update that suggests he is staying engaged, but it still leaves Toronto waiting for the next real sign that his recovery is moving toward a return. [Read more 🡒]
Leafs Pulled This One Out Even With Too Much Going Wrong
The Maple Leafs found a way to leave Vancouver with two points despite a night that could have gone sideways in a hurry. Toronto leaned on a strong second period to steady itself, and even with some key players turning in rough performances, the group managed to do enough to stay ahead of the Canucks in a game that never felt entirely comfortable.
Vancouver had the edge in shots, but it did not translate into the kind of sustained pressure that changes a game. Torontos margin for error was slim, yet the Leafs kept the Canucks from making their volume count and eventually put the result away late, a reminder that sometimes surviving an off night matters almost as much as playing a clean one. [Read more 🡒]