TORONTO — Anthony Stolarz was clearly uncomfortable.

Hunched over in the Toronto Maple Leafs crease, the veteran goalie felt the searing pain of a shot from Boston Bruins sniper David Pastrnak that had drilled him in the neck in the first period at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday.

After taking more than a minute to shake off the effects of the explosion, Stolarz managed to gather his wits and declared his willingness to continue.

Was he ever.

For the rest of the evening, it was the 30-year-old Maple Leafs goalie who was the sore point for Boston en route to its first shutout against Toronto and the ninth of his NHL career in a 4-0 win against the rival. Browns.

“It’s okay,” Stolarz said. “I mean, the most important thing, we got the two points and beat a big league team. So, you know, I guess I thought this was probably one of our better 60 Minute efforts of the year, and hopefully we can keep it going.

Stolarz has certainly done just that from the moment he signed a two-year, $5 million contract with the Maple Leafs on July 2 (average annual value $2.5 million). Once he stepped on the ice, he felt comfortable and in control from the start. -go, a run that has given him an edge over the oft-injured Joseph Woll in the battle for Toronto’s starting job.

In nine games with Toronto, the Edison, New Jersey native has gone 5-2-2 with a 2.12 goals-against average and a .928 save percentage. His penchant for going from post to post and making big stops had the capacity crowd in Toronto chanting his name, something that was not lost on him and his teammates.

“You know, it’s always going to get you going,” he said of the fans’ support. “They appreciate the sport and they are the ones who drive us and give us energy. So any time they can get loud and make some noise for us, we really appreciate it.”

Just as his fellow Maple Leafs appreciate his efforts.

“Big saves. There were some huge saves across the crease,” Toronto forward Mitch Marner said. “’Stolly’ has been doing that for us all year in the net. Big kudos to him. Without him it could have been a different game or a different score. Enormous.

“Great to see the fans giving him the love he deserves.”

Stolarz posted career bests for starts (24), wins (16) and GAA (2.03) in 2023-2024 in a backup role to Sergei Bobrovsky to help the Florida Panthers win the Stanley Cup. Now he’s trying to do the same in Toronto, albeit in a potentially much bigger role with the Maple Leafs.

While he may exceed the expectations of many Toronto fans in the preseason, coach Craig Berube doesn’t see it that way.

“I don’t think so,” Berube said. “I think if you go back to last year, with the season he had, if you look at the numbers, he played extremely well.

“He’s been around for a while and has really learned how to do the work and understand what he needs to do to be successful. He also showed that last year.”

Now he’s doing it again, perhaps at a higher level than ever before. And if he keeps that up, he could become one of the league’s better bargains, if not one of its most influential difference-makers.