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Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz was hospitalized after taking a puck to the throat during warmups before their start against the Ottawa Senators.
Stolarz was eliminated from Saturday’s contest and taken off the ice, where he was taken to the hospital as a precaution. He received some footage and was later released, according to NHL.com.
Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube did not have an update for Stolarz after his team fell to the Senators, 5-2, although he believed he would rejoin the team for their flight back to Toronto.
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Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz spits out his water during the second period of an NHL game between the Minnesota Wild and the Toronto Maple Leafs on March 15, 2026, at Grand Casino Arena in Saint Paul, MN. (Nick Wosika/Sportswire Icon)
The moment was captured by Sportsnet, where a Maple Leafs player took a shot as if it were a normal warm-up. But he caught Stolarz in the worst place: right between his pads and his mask.
Stolarz quickly left the net and eventually entered the Maple Leafs’ tunnel before exiting the arena.
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William Nylander was the one who took the shot into the net that hit Stolarz in the throat, and he spoke about the strange incident after the loss.
“Obviously, it’s very difficult for that to happen,” he said, according to the New York Post. “I mean, I always go in and throw the puck in the glove, and this one went a little bit to the left and I hit him in the neck. So, obviously I was worried about him, but I’ve been texting him. So he seems fine.”
Anthony Stolarz of the Toronto Maple Leafs warms up before playing against the Anaheim Ducks at Scotiabank Arena on March 12, 2026 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Mark Blinch/NHLI)
For his part, Joseph Woll took charge of the goal and did not have the best start, with five goals allowed.
Stolarz, a 32-year-old New Jersey native, owns an 8-9-3 record and an .894 save percentage in 22 games with the Maple Leafs. This is his second season with Toronto after backing up Sergei Bobrovsky with the Florida Panthers in 2024.
Stolarz was part of the Panthers’ Stanley Cup-winning team that year.
He then signed a four-year, $15 million contract with the Maple Leafs in September 2025 despite undergoing knee surgery that limited him to 34 games during the 2024-25 campaign.
Anthony Stolarz of the Toronto Maple Leafs watches during a game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on March 4, 2026 in Newark, New Jersey. (Andrew Mordzynski/Icon Sportswire)
Unfortunately, the injury bug continued this year, as Stolarz was forced to miss 33 games due to an upper-body injury earlier this season.
It’s been a tough season for the Maple Leafs, who are on the outside looking in with just 11 games left. They have 71 points and sit at the bottom of the Atlantic Division with the Panthers.
