Anthony Stolarz said it himself after the final horn: he probably wants two or three of those goals back. That's the guy who let them in, saying so in his own words, and it should settle the argument over this game.
Toronto lost 5-4 in Utah on Tuesday night, and the box score makes it look like a track meet, a back-and-forth shootout where the Leafs clawed back from a hole in the third period and came up just short. That framing is generous to the point of dishonesty. The Leafs lost a game their goaltender gave away in the second period with rush goals that never should have gone in, then spent the rest of the night trying to outscore his mistakes instead of getting saved from them.
This is one game in October. Nobody's saying Stolarz is cooked, and nobody should build a season-long narrative out of one road loss to Utah. The real question is whether his goaltending blew a winnable game tonight, and it did. A team that fights back from a deficit and still loses by one lost because the guy behind them let in goals he's paid to stop.
The third period deserves credit on its own terms. Toronto didn't fold after falling behind, which is worth noting for a team still building its identity this early in the season. Toronto showed effort and fight, but effort isn't a result, and nobody should confuse a feel-good comeback with the performance that should have made it unnecessary. If Stolarz plays even an average second period, Toronto wins this one comfortably.
The instinct to spread blame around, pointing at team defense or an early-season hiccup, is understandable, but it's a dodge. Stolarz stood up after the game and owned it without hiding behind the collective. The least his own fan base can do is take him at his word instead of manufacturing excuses he didn't ask for.
This was a winnable road game: Toronto's forwards did their job late, but their goaltender didn't do his early, and that's the whole reason there was a deficit to climb out of at all. Stop calling this a shootout loss. Call it what the goalie already called it.
