Maple Leafs' Anthony Stolarz Stretchered Out of Arena After Hit to Head vs. Panthers

Toronto won Game 1, but lost its goalie.
Anthony Stolarz follows the puck against the Senators.
Anthony Stolarz follows the puck against the Senators. / Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images

The Toronto Maple Leafs took Game 1 of the Eastern Conference second round Monday against the Florida Panthers—but they needed two goalies to do it.

The Maple Leafs' 5–4 win was marred by a hit to the head of goalie Anthony Stolarz by Panthers center Sam Bennett. Joseph Woll took over for Stolarz and steered Toronto to victory.

Stolarz, meanwhile, was seen appearing to vomit into a bucket on the Maple Leafs' bench. According to postgame reports from Chris Johnston of TSN and Luke Fox of Sportsnet, Stolarz was eventually stretchered out of the arena and taken to the hospital for evaluation.

With Toronto coach Craig Berube calling Bennett's hit a "clear as day" elbow to the head, Florida declined to make Bennett available to the media.

Stolarz was a member of the Panthers' Stanley Cup-winning team in 2024, though he saw minimal action in the playoffs. Game 2 between the two teams is Wednesday evening in Ontario.


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Patrick Andres
PATRICK ANDRES

Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .