So, after taking down the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1 in the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Florida Panthers geared up for Round 2 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. What happened in Game 1? The Maple Leafs just squeaked by the Panthers with a 5-4 win in an exciting game at Scotiabank Arena on May 5. But things took a turn for the worse in Toronto when starting goaltender Anthony Stolarz had to leave the game midway through the second period due to a head injury caused by an elbow from Panthers center Sam Bennett.
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Stolarz had taken a puck to the head before, which knocked his mask off. Later on, he was spotted throwing up on the bench and ended up being taken to the hospital by ambulance. Wow, that’s some serious drama! Do you think this could lead to the two teams playing less physically? Not really, no.
Before Game 2, Florida Panthers defenseman Seth Jones talked about Anthony Stolarz’s situation and shared his thoughts on those physical plays, saying, “I don’t think so. You know, we hope Stolarz is okay. Obviously, it was kind of a bang-bang play in front of the net. We heard about his condition, so we hope he’s all good.”
He continued, “And I think tomorrow is going to be a physical game regardless. Both teams are playing very physical. Both teams are forechecking, finishing their hits, taking pucks to the net, and things happen. So, you know, we don’t expect it to be any more physical than it would have been already.”
Do you think the physical play between the two will keep going, even after what happened to Stolarz? We’ll just have to wait and see about that. So, since Sam Bennett had that incident with Toronto’s goaltender, what did he have to say about it?
Sam Bennett goes candid on Anthony Stolarz’s situation
In a post-game chat, Florida Panthers forward Sam Bennett talked about what happened with Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz during Game 1 of their second-round playoff series. Bennett shared his worries about his old teammate, saying, “I heard that he went to the hospital last night, and he’s a good friend of mine. I reached out to him. He responded. Never want to see an injury like that. From my point of view, I’m just taking the puck the net. I didn’t even know that we made contact until after.”
The Panthers forward shared that, from his point of view, he was just pushing the puck toward the net during a power play and didn’t realize there was any contact until after the play was over. Bennett pointed out that there was no bad intention behind it, calling the collision just a little bump without any real force involved.
The NHL‘s Department of Player Safety also took a look at the play but decided not to hand down any extra discipline on Bennett. With Game 2 coming up, we’ll just have to wait and see if the Maple Leafs can get back at their opponents in a classic, physical way for their goaltender.