Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz left their playoff game against the Florida Panthers on a stretcher after taking two brutal hits to the head and vomiting on the sideline.
In Game 1 of Toronto’s second-round showdown with Florida on Monday night, Stolarz shipped an elbow to the back of the head from Panthers forward Sam Bennett that left him sprawled out on the ice in clear discomfort.
After returning to his feet and playing on for two minutes, the 31-year-old skated to the sideline, leant over and threw up onto the Maple Leafs bench, before he left the arena on a stretcher and was taken to hospital in an ambulance for further evaluation.
Toronto head coach Craig Berube was quick to call out Bennett following their eventual 5-4 win on the night, saying: ‘The league will do what they think is necessary. I know it’s an elbow to the head… clear as day.’
Yet according to Chris Nowinski, a qualified neuroscientist and founding CEO of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, Stolarz likely suffered a concussion at a much earlier stage of the game.
Nowinski shared a clip of the goalie taking a puck to the face with such force that it knocked his mask off five minutes into Monday’s fixture.
Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz left their playoff against the Panthers on a stretcher
Stolarz skated to the sideline and threw up after taking a puck to the face and being elbowed
The 31-year-old went to hospital for further evaluation after the scary incident on Monday
‘Anthony Stolarz likely suffered a first #concussion 5 minutes into the game when he took a puck to face that knocked his mask off,’ the concussion expert wrote on X.
’25 seconds after the hit he did a SHAAKE (Spontaneous Headshake after a Kinematic Event) which predicts concussion 72% of the time.’
He also added about the Maple Leafs: ‘When I initially posted on Anthony Stolarz I didn’t know they initially left him in for more than two minutes until he started vomiting on the bench. We need to do better.
‘PSA: If you vomit multiple times after a brain injury, get to the emergency room.
Stolarz, who has a Cup ring from backing up Sergei Bobrovsky last year, played all six games in the Leafs’ first-round series win over Ottawa, posting a 2.21 goals-against average and .901 save percentage.
He won 12 of 14 starts going back to the regular season before getting injured.
