Panthers' Bennett will not face discipline for hit on Maple Leafs' Stolarz

TORONTO — Craig Berube can only chuckle at how times have changed when it comes to retribution.

Take a number, then probably pound the face of the man wearing that number. That was the old path to justice.

The new way is to cross your fingers and hope the referees catch all, or that the league picks up what the stripes miss.

“When I played, somebody would have done something right away,” said Berube, a man of 3,149 penalty minutes served, mostly in those hairy ’90s.

“Probably me.”

Interesting, then, to hear the Toronto Maple Leafs coach take a do-as-I-say-not-as-I-did approach with his players when it comes to avenging Sam Bennett’s nasty elbow on Anthony Stolarz that sent the starting goaltender to the hospital in Game 1.

“I talked to my players about focusing on the game and playing the game hard and playing it the right way,” Berube said Tuesday at the club’s practice facility, where only the black aces skated. “If there’s an opportunity to take the body on somebody, I don’t care who it is, you go through them.”

But?

“You ain’t going to go out and you think you’re going to get back at Bennett,” Berube continued. “You end up in the penalty box. And we don’t need that. We've got to focus on the game.”

The focus for Wednesday’s Game 2 — in which Bennett will play and Stolarz likely will not — has shifted to Joseph Woll and his ability to build on the Maple Leafs’ 1-0 series lead over the defending champion Florida Panthers.

Berube provided little in the way of a concrete update on Stolarz, who has been Toronto’s rock over the past month and had been outduelling mentor Sergei Bobrovsky Monday before leaving with a head injury.

The coach said he didn’t know how long Stolarz spent in the hospital Monday night getting evaluated, didn’t know if Stolarz had been diagnosed with a concussion, and wasn’t sure if he would dress Wednesday.

Both Berube and defencemen Brandon Carlo did say Stolarz was “doing well,” the goalie reported to Leafs HQ for the morning meeting.

“Overall, I like the way that he looked this morning when I got to see him for a smile at breakfast,” Carlo said. “So, that’s always a good thing.”

Not a good thing, for fans of the Leafs or karma, is that Bennett went unpenalized on the play. The NHL’s department of player safety reviewed the elbow and didn’t believe it was severe enough to warrant discipline.

The Leafs may be stewing behind the curtain but refuse to complain publicly.

“I’ve moved on from it. Yeah, I don’t want to talk about it. It’s over,” Berube said. “They do what they do. And again, that’s for the refs and the league. We’re going to be disciplined.”

Bennett was not made available to speak about the incident post-game. He shared his thoughts with reporters at the Panthers' downtown hotel Tuesday, after learning he’d be cleared from punishment.

“I heard that he went to the hospital last night," Bennett said. "Stollie’s a good friend of mine. I reached out to him. He responded. Never want to see an injury like that. From my point of view, I’m just taking the puck to the net. I didn’t even know that we made contact until after.

“I’m on the power play. I’m trying to score. I’m taking the puck to the net, and that’s really all there is to it.”

Except for the bitter feelings that will linger (see: Ridly Greig, Ottawa Senators) and the fact that Stolarz’s health is now a question mark.

“We knew there would be a lot of emotions in this series, and there certainly was for Game 1,” veteran Max Pacioretty said. “We have to play with emotions, but we also have to be smart about it. And this group has stuck together and stood up for one another and played for one another all year. And this is going to be another example of that.

“A lot has been made of like the physicality and how physical Florida plays, but we feel like we have a group in here that can play a similar style. It doesn’t always have to be the biggest hit, but we've got to make life hard on their guys.”

The idea of Stolarz heading to the hospital for evaluation on a head injury during Game 1, then turning around and starting Game 2 without so much as a practice in between seems farfetched at best.

Joseph Woll, who gave up three but secured Monday’s win in relief, should prepare himself to start Game 2.

“Joe is awesome,” Carlo said. “We got some great riches here with having two goalies as good as they are. His poise within the net behind us has been a great thing. And as a defensive guy, I love playing in front of both of them. So, I think Joe can definitely handle anything that's thrown at him.”

Like Stolarz, the 26-year-old Woll enjoyed the busiest and best season of his career, going 27-14-1 with a .909 save percentage.

Look around the eight NHL teams still standing and you’d be hard-pressed to find a backup more fit to carry the load in Stolarz’s absence.

“He’s one of the most dedicated guys I’ve been around. He works at his game constantly,” Berube said of Woll.

“You’ve seen him this year. Played a lot of good games, a lot of good hockey for us this year. Stollie, he was out for, what, two months (due to mid-season knee surgery)? You know, he was in there holding the fort for us. We got a ton of faith in him.”