Stolarz played the final minute of the second period on Saturday without a skate blade as play continued on.
Anthony Stolarz had to be assisted off the ice by two teammates after losing a skate blade in the final minute of the second period during the Toronto Maple Leafs' 4-1 loss to the New York Rangers on Saturday.
Throughout the sequence, Stolarz remained in the butterfly position, holding on until the period ended at Scotiabank Arena.
"Why isn’t he blowing the whistle?" Stolarz said when asked about his thoughts during that moment. "I understand it when there’s an imminent scoring chance, but I didn’t do it on purpose."
In both of those instances, the play was whistled down for Stolarz.
"At the end of the day, it’s about player safety. I’m sitting there, not realizing it, and kicking out, and your groin is just kind of going," Stolarz explained. "If there’s an imminent scoring chance, I understand, but the puck was at the other end. I don’t understand why they couldn’t just blow the whistle, fix it, even if they gave a faceoff in our zone. No goalie does this on purpose to get a whistle."
In this case, it appears the official simply didn’t see it There seems to be some gray area between the two rules stated in the yearbook and perhaps something more explicit should be explored in this particular instance.
