<p>You&#8217;d have to be crazy to think Anthony Stolarz shouldn&#8217;t start Game 6. At least according to longtime hockey executive Brian Burke.</p>
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<p>Burke stopped by Leafs Morning Take Wednesday morning in the wake of the <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/combinations">Toronto Maple Leaf</a>s&#8217; <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/knee-jerk-reaction-toronto-maple-leafs-cant-solve-linus-ullmark-ottawa-senators-force-game-6">4-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators</a> Tuesday night. Inevitably, the hot topic of Toronto&#8217;s netminder came up. Stolarz started the series strong, but now some are wondering if Craig Berube should consider a goaltending change after back-to-back losses. LMT co-host Nick Alberga asked Burke what he thought of switching Stolarz out for Game 6.</p>
<p>&#8220;Have you been drinking, guys?&#8221; he said, in his typical matter-of-fact way, getting a laugh out of Jay Rosehill and Alberga, who joked &#8220;a bit actually, yeah.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Well, good, I&#8217;m glad, that question makes more sense then,&#8221; Burke responded. &#8220;No, I wouldn&#8217;t touch the goalie, he&#8217;s been outstanding, the goals he hasn&#8217;t stopped, he hasn&#8217;t seen&#8230;he&#8217;s been athletic, big, competitive. I think he&#8217;s really been good.&#8221;</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">If I&#39;m the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LeafsForever?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LeafsForever</a>, starting Joseph Woll in Game 6 would 1000% be a consideration.</p>
<p>And it&#39;s not about Stolarz&#39;s play. He&#39;s been great. That said, they need a BOOST.</p>
<p>&quot;Have you been drinking, guys?&quot; 😅</p>
<p>Brian Burke shot down the idea pretty quickly.. <a href="https://t.co/XvDyN74fUC">pic.twitter.com/XvDyN74fUC</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Nick Alberga (@thegoldenmuzzy) <a href="https://twitter.com/thegoldenmuzzy/status/1917625626711691488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Stolarz was in peak form to end the regular season and to start the series, riding an 11-game winning streak between the two with three shutouts over that span. However, over the last two games, he&#8217;s conceded six goals and averaged an .842 SV%.</p>
<p>The argument to swap in back-up netminder Joseph Woll for Game 6 seems pretty evident when you consider that as recently as earlier this month, Woll wasn&#8217;t even the backup. Barring Stolarz&#8217;s absence from injury, the two of them equally shared the workload for most of the season. Having won both his playoff starts last year with a .964 SV% and a 0.86 GAA, there&#8217;s good reason to believe Woll is still a solid choice in between the pipes for the Leafs.</p>
<p>At the same time, you can hardly blame Stolarz for either of Toronto&#8217;s two losses in this series. The first was an overtime nailbiter where the Leafs failed to capitalize on a four-minute power play in extra time, and in the second, he received no goal support from his skaters.</p>
<p>Woll is a solid goaltender, but Stolarz inarguably earned his starting spot this season and hasn&#8217;t done enough to lose it. It&#8217;s hard to imagine Woll would improve much on what Stolarz is already doing, and if anything, it could potentially have a reverse effect of sowing seeds of doubt in the roster that worked so well for Games 1 through 3.</p>
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You'd have to be crazy to think Anthony Stolarz shouldn't start Game 6. At least according to longtime hockey executive Brian Burke.
<div class="bam-inline-promotion-block" data-max-length="2" data-placement-id="2106" data-context="web-content-promocard" data-property-id="324"></div>
Burke stopped by Leafs Morning Take Wednesday morning in the wake of the <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/combinations">Toronto Maple Leaf</a>s' <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/knee-jerk-reaction-toronto-maple-leafs-cant-solve-linus-ullmark-ottawa-senators-force-game-6">4-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators</a> Tuesday night. Inevitably, the hot topic of Toronto's netminder came up. Stolarz started the series strong, but now some are wondering if Craig Berube should consider a goaltending change after back-to-back losses. LMT co-host Nick Alberga asked Burke what he thought of switching Stolarz out for Game 6.

"Have you been drinking, guys?" he said, in his typical matter-of-fact way, getting a laugh out of Jay Rosehill and Alberga, who joked "a bit actually, yeah."

"Well, good, I'm glad, that question makes more sense then," Burke responded. "No, I wouldn't touch the goalie, he's been outstanding, the goals he hasn't stopped, he hasn't seen...he's been athletic, big, competitive. I think he's really been good."

https://twitter.com/thegoldenmuzzy/status/1917625626711691488

Stolarz was in peak form to end the regular season and to start the series, riding an 11-game winning streak between the two with three shutouts over that span. However, over the last two games, he's conceded six goals and averaged an .842 SV%.

The argument to swap in back-up netminder Joseph Woll for Game 6 seems pretty evident when you consider that as recently as earlier this month, Woll wasn't even the backup. Barring Stolarz's absence from injury, the two of them equally shared the workload for most of the season. Having won both his playoff starts last year with a .964 SV% and a 0.86 GAA, there's good reason to believe Woll is still a solid choice in between the pipes for the Leafs.

At the same time, you can hardly blame Stolarz for either of Toronto's two losses in this series. The first was an overtime nailbiter where the Leafs failed to capitalize on a four-minute power play in extra time, and in the second, he received no goal support from his skaters.

Woll is a solid goaltender, but Stolarz inarguably earned his starting spot this season and hasn't done enough to lose it. It's hard to imagine Woll would improve much on what Stolarz is already doing, and if anything, it could potentially have a reverse effect of sowing seeds of doubt in the roster that worked so well for Games 1 through 3.

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Brian Burke shuts down idea of swapping Stolarz out for Game 6 on Leafs Morning Take

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