Nylander’s elite skills power Leafs’ top-ranked special team

With Winnipeg ’s penalty killers closing in, William Nylander looked to be cornered and out of options. Then the Maple Leafs forward brushed off Joel Armia, protected the puck from the Jets winger’s prying stick and finally whipped a cross-ice pass to Leo Komarov for another power-play goal.

Still just a rookie, Nylander is already a wizard on the NHL’s No. 1 power-play unit. He leads his team and all rookies with 19 power-play points and the entire league in power-play points per 60 minutes at 8.69.

“You’re just trying to see what they give you,” Nylander said Wednesday. “Maybe Leo might not have been open and then I maybe could’ve got a shot off or whatever, so it depends what they do.”

Nylander had two points with the man advantage Tuesday in Toronto’s 5-4 overtime win over the Jets, including his eighth powerplay goal that tied the game 4-4. That brought him to within one of the Leafs franchise rookie record for power-play goals and within six of Dan Daoust’s franchise rookie mark for power-play points (25), according to the Elias Sports Bureau. He was held scoreless Thursday in a 2-1 shootout loss to the New York Rangers.

“He’s very calm with the puck and I think he makes plays,” said teammate Connor Brown, who scored the Leafs’ lone regulation goal Thursday. “For him, I think just the way he can have the puck on his stick and be able to look around and see the ice (makes him effective), the way he handles the time and space well.”

Nylander spends most of his time on the Toronto power play with fellow rookie and Leafs leading scorer Auston Matthews. Each operates on one side of the ice, thereby creating duelling threats for opposing penalty killers to contend with.

Matthews set up Nylander’s goal against Winnipeg, his 17th overall this season. Matthews shot wide of Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck and the puck bounced directly to Nylander, who dropped to his right knee and fired. Matthews said the two had practised the play two months earlier and got “lucky” that it worked in a win.

“They love to pass to each other, too — sometimes a little too much,” Komarov said. From time to time, the rookies like to play with the puck a little too often for teammates’ liking. But both also see the ice well, Komarov notes, and have the skill to make plays.

On the Komarov goal, he saw a “little lane” toward the net and caught his teammate creeping toward the back post.

“We just see what they give us,” Nylander says of the opposition’s penalty killers. “You try to create stuff, but it’s mainly what they give you.”

Matthews sucked in the attention of all four Senators penalty killers last weekend against Ottawa and then dished to Nylander on the weak side. He quickly received the pass and then loaded up for a wicked shot that beat goalie Craig Anderson. Komarov credits the rapid release for his shooting success with the man advantage, something Nylander says is owed to practice and lots of it.

He often lingers with other young players after on-ice sessions to talk about his shot.

“He can flat-out shoot the puck,” Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. “He can skate, turn and gets his feet around in a heck of a hurry. He’s got an elite, elite shot and he can score from the hash-mark area.”

He (William Nylander) can flat-out shoot the puck. He can skate, turn and gets his feet around in a heck of a hurry.