SEATTLE — Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner and goaltender Anthony Stolarz could be in the lineup when the club visits the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge on Thursday.
After missing one game due to a lower-body injury, the plan for Marner was to take the ice along in Seattle with Stolarz as the rest of the team enjoyed a day away of resty following 6-3 win against the Calgary Flames on Tuesday.
“Actually good,” is how Maple Leafs head coach assessed Marner’s progression from injury. “He’ll be on the ice and we’ll go from there. But I think he’s in a good spot. I think a good possibility he could play tomorrow.”
Marner has been off the ice since scoring the game-winning goal in Toronto’s thrilling 4-3 overtime win against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday. After initially being held off the ice due to ‘maintenance’, the Leafs later revealed that Toronto’s scoring leader would not play on Tuesday due to a lower-body injury.
The star forward leads the Leafs with 70 points in 52 games this season.
Stolarz has been out of the lineup since sustaining a knee ailment on Dec. 12 against the Anaheim Ducks. The American goalie later underwent a procedure to remove a loose body in his knee. The goaltender has been healthy for some time, but the Leafs are just waiting for the goaltender to feel right when it comes to timing.
“Stolarz felt a lot better yesterday with his timing and tracking pucks and things like that. So, you know, he’s improving,” Berube said. “He’s getting to the point where he’s ready.
When pressed if there is a plan for Stolarz to finally return to the lineup in Seattle, Berube opened the door.
“Yeah, it could be. We’ll see how he does today and go from there,” Berube said. “I still, I got to make decisions on these guys yet, and they got to make decisions on themselves. So, we’ll see where they’re at.”
Stolarz has a 9-5-2 record with a .927 save percentage in his first season with the Leafs. He signed a two-year, $5 million contract with the Maple Leafs after serving as the backup goalie for the 2024 Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.
Why the team chose to rest instead of practice on Wednesday
After William Nylander recorded his second hat trick of his NHL career on Tuesday, the player lobbied for the day off of practice and most certainly got his wish.
‘Just with travel and everything, getting here late. We just had a team stretch today and stuff,” Berube explained for the day away from the ice. “A lot of travel right now. And, you know, competitive game last night. But there’s guys that played a lot of minutes and stuff. So I thought it was best we just stay off the ice today and team stretch.”
With the NHL’s schedule a bit condensed due to the 4 Nations Face-Off, the Leafs have had several games in a short period of time. But they’ve been home quite a bit with their longest road trip being just two games before this four-gamer.
After the break, the Leafs will have a stretch where they will be on the road for seven games out of eight with a home game sandwiched on the tail end of games on consecutive nights.
Timmins to sit out against Kraken with upper-body injury
Maple Leafs defenseman Conor Timmins was the recipient of what looked like a nasty elbow from Flames forward Yegor Sharangovich. He had to be helped to the bench by teammates following the hit. Although he returned, Berube said the defenseman has an upper-body injury and will not play against the Kraken on Saturday.
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