Nylander’s consistency this season is creating a buzz with his line
After becoming the first of the Maple Leafs’ young guns to score a big contract, William Nylander was often criticized as a passenger rather than someone ready to drive the bus.
Today, it seems where there’s a Will, there’s a way for Toronto to stay competitive every night. From last spring’s playoff through 14 games this season, Nylander has been their most consistent forward and not just in points. Key backchecks and other defensive gems have augmented his offence, like his two goals in Wednesday’s 3-0 win in Philadelphia.
“He’s got some fire in his belly,” goaltender Jack Campbell said. “He is moving out there and doing everything we could possibly ask.”
Linemate Auston Matthews agreed.
“When skating and moving his feet, he’s dangerous all over the ice. He reads the play well, he’s shooting the puck a bit more (five or more on goal a night in five of the past seven games) and it’s going in. He’s a huge part of this team. When he’s going, it makes it a lot easier on us.”
Nylander takes seven goals and 13 points into Friday’s Hockey Hall of Fame Game against Calgary at Scotiabank.
“We’re buzzing as a line (with left winger Michael Bunting), creating a lot of chances,” Nylander said, “The power play (7-for-15 the past six games after a painfully slow start) is doing really well.”
Wednesday’s win saw Nylander and others step up with captain John Tavares out because of a lower body injury (he remains questionable for the Flames’ game). Before Ondrej Kase scored in the third period, 16 straight goals had come from Nylander, Matthews, Tavares and Mitch Marner.
Prior to Saturday’s match, the Hall of Fame’s 2020 player induction class will be honoured, Jarome Iginla, Kevin Lowe, Doug Wilson, Marian Hossa, Canadian women’s team goalie Kim St. Pierre and in the builder category, Oilers’ general manager Ken Holland.
PLUGGED BACK IN
So what the heck was wrong with the power play that had all those multimillionaires firing blanks going back to last season?
“Simplifying it a bit, moving the puck, getting shots through and breaking down the penalty kill,” Matthews said. “That’s when the nicer plays come out, when we have sustained pressure down in their end, tire them out a bit, break them down with shots and puck movement, find the open plays.”
Coach Sheldon Keefe was relieved Nick Ritchie got a point out of Nylander’s man-advantage goal, after he elevated the winger to Tavares’s line and put him on the first power play. “A few touches on that sequence, he makes some real plays that leads to a goal,” Keefe said. “The puck comes to you on the first power play, you have to keep it alive, I’m sure that will give him a boost, a guy with hands like that.”
What Keefe didn’t like was Ritchie’s needless tussle with a Flyer, whose helmet he yanked off, a penalty right after Nylander’s first goal of the evening.
REMEMBERING NANCY BOWER
Nancy Bower died in the early hours of Thursday. The 96-year-old wife of the late Johnny was the perfect mate for her humble husband and well-known herself in the Leafs extended family.
“Mom was our pillar,” Johnny Bower Jr. said in a statement. “She was our cook, chauffeur and tutor. Her efforts allowed Dad to concentrate on his profession and being one of the greatest goaltenders in hockey history. If there was a Hall of Fame for mothers and hockey wives, she’d be in it.”
LOOSE LEAFS
The Leafs now have recorded 33 or more shots the past seven consecutive games ... Nylander next goal will be his 111th, tying him with Ace Bailey for 50th in franchise history, while Tavares is at 99 ... Wednesday was Campbell’s 27th win in Toronto, moving him past ex-leaf/flyer Doug Favell into the club’s top 30 ... The Thunder Bay Kings AAA organization is coming south for a 28-game regular season schedule in the U-18, U-16 and U-15 divisions of the Greater Toronto Hockey League, starting Friday at the Scotiabank Pond in North York. Ex-leaf Lonny Bohonos is coaching the U-16s, Carter Poddubny, nephew of the late Walt, is top scorer on the U-15s ... Check out the Sports Card Expo this weekend at the International Centre, with Mike Wilson signing copies of The Ultimate Road Trip and selling rare Leafs prints from the 1960s. The Hockey Time Machine booth will also have some special guests.