Cayden Primeau had a message for Anthony Stolarz when the Maple Leafs’ starting goalie returned to the bench on Thursday night, seconds after stopping a shot without his mask.

“I told him, ‘You’re crazy for continuing to play,’” the Leafs’ backup said Friday afternoon.

The sentiment was shared by many.

After New York Rangers forward Matt Rempe fired a shot off Stolarz’s mask in the third period of a 2-1 Leafs OT win, the veteran goalie shuffled, his beard and sweaty hair exposed, to take a J.T. Miller shot off his left pad. John Tavares raised his hands in shock, the Leafs forward seemingly wondering the same thing as many observers: How is it possible for referees to allow play to continue when the goalie is so clearly not protected by his mask?

“I don’t think we should wait around for a goalie to get hit in the head and have to deal with that,” Stolarz said declaratively on Friday.

The NHL’s official rules lay things out clearly: “When a goalkeeper has lost his helmet and/or face mask and his team has control of the puck, play shall be stopped immediately to allow the goalkeeper the opportunity to regain his helmet and/or face mask. When the opposing team has control of the puck, play shall only be stopped if there is no immediate and impending scoring opportunity.”

Referees determined that Miller’s shot was a scoring chance, and play continued. Stolarz insisted after the game that, in making a pad save, he was just trying to be a “competitor.” But the four seconds that Stolarz continued without a mask felt too long, in retrospect. It was four seconds that led to fresh questions about the rule.

What would have happened had Miller inadvertently fired his shot not off Stolarz’s pads, but toward his head?

Could the sequence of events on Thursday night lead to a possible rule change?

“We monitor how the current rule operates and how it is enforced and applied. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said via email in a statement. “To this point, we have not had significant concerns with how it’s being applied. Whether recent game events might warrant a discussion on potential changes, I am not prepared to say. If we think change is warranted, we would not be opposed to making them.”

Stolarz believes change should come immediately.

“If a forward or defenseman gets hit in the face with an errant puck, they blow (the) play immediately. I don’t see why it’s any different for a goalie,” Stolarz said.

“Hopefully it’s something the league is looking at and something that we can fix,” Stolarz said.

Consider, in one of the fastest games on the planet, how differently things could have ended for Stolarz last night, with the puck moving an inch here or there and taking on a life of its own.

Primeau used the words “life-threatening” to describe what could have unfolded with Stolarz playing without a mask. If a shot bounced up off Stolarz’s face, head or neck, that description wouldn’t feel like hyperbole.

“Guys are teeing up for a one-timer, 90-plus miles an hour,” Primeau said. “Fortunately (the shot) stayed low to the ice, but anything can happen. The puck can catch an edge, roll up on a guy and in an instant, things could have gone south.”

In an age where the health of players is more paramount than ever, that this rule has remained is, at best, curious. The five skaters in front of goalies such as Stolarz would be forced to leave the ice if their respective helmets came off during the course of play. Primeau echoed Stolarz’s view that the rule should be changed.

“Even if a strap comes undone, play should be dead immediately,” Primeau said.

Stolarz knew that NHL rules would allow play to continue if a scoring chance was possible. He heard from other goalies he had played with in the past, including former NHL journeyman Dustin Tokarski, voicing their support.

“You obviously want more scoring and you want to see more chances, but at the same time, too, you have to look out for the safety of the players,” Stolarz said.

Stolarz’s view was shared by others around the NHL.

Jake Allen called the rule a “gray area.” The New Jersey Devils goalie has experience with the rule. During a 2017 game against the Vancouver Canucks when Allen was with the St. Louis Blues, Allen’s mask came off. The game continued for 10 seconds. Allen was also forced to make a save. After he did, a whistle was finally blown and Allen raised his arms in frustration.

“It’s a weird rule, because there are some times when some refs call it and some refs don’t. And sometimes it’s dangerous, but I’ve made a couple of saves before without a mask on,” Allen said in 2017. “But it’s a tough rule.”

Yet after the play, there was little discussion about the rule possibly changing. Perhaps it’s the fact that the incident occurred in the fishbowl that is Scotiabank Arena, but Thursday night felt like an impetus for change. If enough goaltenders speak up in unison about the dangers of play continuing, could the NHL be forced to change the rule?

“They should (blow) a whistle right away because it’s a very dangerous play,” Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin said on Friday.

“Obviously I’m biased, but all it takes is one errant shot and a guy could be hurt badly,” Anaheim Ducks director of goaltending Sudarshan Maharaj told The Athletic via text. “I think as soon as the helmet comes off and there is a shot opportunity, then it should be blown dead. Imagine in a playoff game, a team’s starting goalie’s mask comes off and he’s injured for the rest of the playoffs? A player has to leave the ice immediately if his helmet comes off. Goalies can’t, so the play should stop.”

The Stolarz save was not the first such incident this season. It wasn’t even the first this week.

On Oct. 14, Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Adin Hill was also forced to make a save without his mask after Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson fired a shot off his mask.

“The first shot was through a pretty heavy screen, so I didn’t see it. I picked it up as it came through the screen, but at that point it’s too late and it hit me in kind of (the) jaw area, where both buckles fell off. I go to track the rebound and feel my helmet kind of slipping off, but you’re just kind of in the moment thinking, ‘I have to get across and make a save,’” Hill said.

The issue? Hill’s corresponding save hit him in the groin, or what he calls “a sensitive area.” He was forced to leave the game.

“If my mask was on, I would’ve stayed down over it and came across together. If you stand up straight, you’re more exposed there,” Hill said.

Hill has since returned to the ice. It was a close call for the Golden Knights goalie. It feels like the calls surrounding this rule aren’t just staying “close,” but are inching further and further toward a dangerous injury. And that’s why goalies such as Hill are thinking about the NHL possibly changing the rule surrounding a goaltender’s mask coming off, as more around the league possibly are as well.

“For scenarios like that, maybe,” Hill said of the NHL beginning to whistle the play dead as soon as a goaltender’s mask comes off. “It’s tough because there’s also the line of ‘Does the goalie’s mask come off, or he is trying to make his mask come off?’ There are different scenarios. It’s one of those gray areas where it’s hard to say one way or the other. I feel like it almost has to be a situational thing. Is it a tap-in backdoor when the goalie is on the other side of the net, and his helmet is off? Or is the goalie in good position, facing the shot, with no helmet on? That also changes things.”

The Athletic‘s Peter Baugh contributed to this report.