Stolarz shines in return to Maple Leafs net, leads club to win

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Anthony Stolarz, it was like you never left.

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Eight weeks to the day after he was forced out of the Maple Leafs lineup with a knee issue, the veteran goalie sparkled in his return on Thursday night, making 26 saves in the Leafs’ 3-1 victory against the Seattle Kraken.

Stolarz was in pre-injury form at Climate Pledge Arena, reminding observers that he was leading the NHL with a .927 save percentage when he was forced out of the lineup on Dec. 12 during a game against Anaheim. The following week, Stolarz had a procedure done in New York to have a pebble-sized loose body removed from his knee.

His best save came in the second period when he went full leather-flash to snare a shot by former Florida Panthers teammate Brandon Montour, followed by a smile for his friend. A point-blank save on Shane Wright during a Kraken power play in the third also stood out.

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Kraken forward Eeli Tolvanen fired a high shot past Stolarz at 5:43 of the third for Seattle’s only goal.

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Since the Kraken’s inception, the Leafs have won seven of the eight meetings between the teams. Seattle has been no match for Toronto at home, as the Leafs are 4-0 and have outscored the Kraken 17-4.

Mitch Marner, back in the lineup after missing the win in Calgary on Tuesday with a lower-body issue, recorded his 500th NHL assist. Marner did so in his 629th National Hockey League game, becoming the 12th-fastest player in NHL history to reach the milestone.

In the past 30 years, only three NHL players — Connor McDavid (527 games), Peter Forsberg (551 games) and Sidney Crosby (554 games) — have reached the milestone faster.

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The Leafs are 3-0 on their western trip and can make it a clean sweep with a victory on Saturday in Vancouver against the Canucks.

Bobby McMann and Matthew Knies each scored for the third game in a row. The Leafs’ first goal came from the rarest of sources, defenceman Philippe Myers. When his shot deflected off Kraken forward Matty Beniers and past goalie Joey Daccord at 7:23 of the first period, it marked Myers’ first goal since Nov. 17, 2022, when he was with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

McMann scored late in the first when he re-directed a Morgan Rielly shot during a Toronto power play. It was the fifth power-play goal by the Leafs on the trip.

In the second, Knies scored when he tipped a shot by Jake McCabe. It appeared to be done with a high stick, but after a review, the goal stood.

Leafs captain Auston Matthews’ goal slump stretched to five games, his longest drought since he went five games without scoring from Oct. 15-24, 2022. He’s stuck on 388 career goals, one behind Darryl Sittler for second-most in franchise history.

Matthews led the Leafs with six shots on goal.

tkoshan@postmedia.com

X: @koshtorontosun

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