The Maple Leafs have selected their starting goalie for tonight's clash against the Carolina Hurricanes, and it says a lot about the goaltending picture in Toronto.
Prior to the 4 Nations Face-Off break, it was important for the Maple Leafs to get Anthony Stolarz back into game action to find his footing after a lengthy layoff due to his recovery from knee surgery back in December.
After missing several weeks of action as he recovered, Stolarz finally returned to the Leafs' lineup against the Seattle Kraken, allowing only 1 goal against in a 3-1 win. However, when the Leafs played their final game before the break against Vancouver, it was Joseph Woll who tended the twine, leaving many to surmise that Woll had indeed emerged as the starter in Toronto.
As a result, there was some speculation that Woll would receive the first start coming out of the break tonight against the Hurricanes, but if today's morning skate is any indication, that's not what Craig Berube and the Maple Leafs have in mind.
According to David Alter of The Hockey News, it was Stolarz who was in the home net at practice, indicating that he'll get the nod versus Carolina tonight.
What this tells us is that perhaps this is just the first step in Stolarz reprising his role as the team's undisputed #1 goaltender.
Despite missing time and falling behind some of his competitors in terms of his number of starts, Stolarz still leads the entire National Hockey League in save percentage (.927 SV%). He also sits second in goals against average (2.08 GAA), behind only Connor Hellebuyck (2.06 GAA).
Having two very good goaltenders is a great problem to have for the Leafs, and while I'm sure that both netminders will receive a healthy amount of work in the final stretch, today's announcement may very well indicate that the Leafs still view Stolarz as their lead sled dog in goal.
