Maple Leafs' Anthony Stolarz on loss to Golden Knights: 'At times, I was a little behind'

"Probably just the tempo and the speed. You can do your best to replicate those in practice, but once you get out there in a game, at the NHL level, the tempo of the play is a lot quicker. Tonight, especially early on, at times I was a little behind. As the game wore on, I thought I got a little more comfortable."

"We kind of had a plan, around this time. A few days ago, I started to feel really good, obviously had an opportunity to go down to the Marlies, and get in those full practices. A little longer than our practices. Just being able to go down there and work, get some reps, I felt really good after that, and thought it was time to get activated."

"Just having the opportunity to battle, and compete with them. Obviously, it sucks watching from up top, it was something that was out of my control. At the end of the day, it was just nice to be back."

Stolarz missed 33 games because of a nerve issue and returned to face the Golden Knights during Mitch Marner's homecoming, playing without a conditioning-game appearance. He looked rusty from the opening puck drop with inconsistent rebound control and a visible struggle to regain puck feel. Stolarz stopped 25 of 30 shots in a 6-3 loss and reported feeling good before, during and after the game. The increased tempo and speed of NHL play left him behind early, but he improved as the contest progressed. Stolarz used Marlies practices to get reps and timed his activation around feeling ready.

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