TORONTO -- Anthony Stolarz was smiling and in the building. The Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender had taken a blow to the head, vomited on the bench and left Scotiabank Arena on a stretcher to be evaluated in a hospital Monday night.
His presence at Toronto's practice facility in the city's west end Tuesday morning was a welcome sign. Whether or not Stolarz will play when the team's best-of-seven playoff series resumes Wednesday night is up in the air.
Coach Craig Berube didn't rule out his starting goalie for Game 2 of the Leafs' second-round matchup against the Florida Panthers after Stolarz was on the receiving end of an elbow from Sam Bennett in the opener.
"He's doing well," said Berube, whose group earned a 5-4 victory Monday to take a 1-0 lead in a matchup of Atlantic Division rivals. "He's here, doing good."
That's about all the information the veteran head coach was willing to share. As to whether or not the 31-year-old will be available to play Wednesday? "We'll see," Berube said. "Don't know that yet." As to whether or not the veteran suffered a concussion, or not, Berube added, "don't know that either."
Stolarz, who also took a shot off the mask early in Game 1, was knocked to the ice in the second period by Bennett but stayed in the action for a few minutes. He eventually left after being sick during a TV timeout.
"Tough seeing your starting goaltender go down," Maple Leafs defenseman Jake McCabe said.
No stranger to entering a playoff series, backup Joseph Woll stopped 17 of 20 shots in relief as Toronto held on after building a 4-1 lead. The 26-year-old won Games 5 and 6 of last spring's first-round loss to the Boston Bruins, but was unable to go in the finale because of a back injury.
Woll, who played long stretches this season, including when Stolarz was out with a knee issue, also entered Toronto's second-round defeat to Florida in 2023, winning Game 4 to stave off elimination before a 40-save performance in a 3-2 overtime loss that sent the Panthers to the Eastern Conference final.
"We've got all the confidence in him," McCabe said. "Tough spot, but he did an awesome job."
Berube said his team will have to stay disciplined and not seek retribution on Bennett that could result in power plays for the Panthers.
Seventh on the NHL's penalty minutes list, however, Berube said the situation would have been handled differently during his playing days.
"Somebody would have done something right away," he said with a smile. "Probably me, if I was out there."
Stolarz, in his first season with the Maple Leafs, is a regular playoff starter for the first time in his career. He spent last season with the Panthers, backing up Sergei Bobrovsky, as Florida raced to its first Stanley Cup in franchise history. He is one of three Maple Leafs on this current roster who also was with Florida last season, including Steven Lorentz and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.