Anthony Stolarz Opens Up About One-on-One Private Conversation With William Nylander
Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
Anthony Stolarz says he's cleared the air with William Nylander after frustration boiled over on Saturday with the Maple Leafs goalie insisting there's no bad blood.
It's been a weird week for the City of Toronto over the last week. On one hand, the city is electric with the news that the Blue Jays were headed to the World Series after 32 years, and all eyes are going to be on Game 1 which takes place on Friday.
On the other side, you have the Toronto Maple Leafs, who are struggling with consistency to start the year; and just had their goaltender Anthony Stolarz call out the entire team for their lack of an effort.
A players meeting seemed to quash things, and the team is looking forward to getting back on track as they take on the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night.
The Goalie Says He and Nylander Cleared the Air and Are Focused on Winning
One of the focal points for the goalie's tirade was William Nylander giving up on the eventual game-winning goal, and felt the ire of Stolarz post-game. But it seems that tension was gone as quickly as it appeared.
Stolarz, speaking to reporters explained that he pulled Nylander aside for a little chit-chat and just wanted to make sure things were good, and it looks like it's a bridge over troubled waters:
I pulled Willy aside & we had a conversation. He's someone I admire & someone I respect deeply. There's a reason he's been in this league for so long. He's a hell of a player. He pushes me & I push him.
But how bad exactly was Nylander's miscue?
Stolarz's Original Post-Game Comments Sparked Plenty of Discussion
The play in question had Nylander puck-watching at center ice before he tried to catch up to the Kraken and haphazardly attempting a stick check.
It was something Stolarz was none too pleased about, and while he didn't name names; if you look at the play it's quite obvious:
While we can't expect every player to be perfect, and it wasn't easy for Nylander to double back, it was something he has to improve on if he wants to be trusted in sudden death.
Craig Berube even had a bit of a warning for his star forward to pick things up, hopefully it rings clear:
We want to be in more of a wedge so we don't get beat by speed like that. We're too spread out. We're all man on man. It's a difficult play for Willy, but he's got to have that guy if he wants to man up like that and the guy skated by him.
There's going to be a big emphasis on protecting Stolarz going forward, and at the risk of making their goaltender angry again, they should probably be a bit more physical.
Otherwise, we're going to have a lot more to discuss than just one simple mistake, which could end up turning into a series of unfortunate errors.
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