Fresh Nylander no help as Leafs fall in overtime
Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock expected William Nylander to be “the freshest guy in hockey” on Thursday night.
That was probably asking too much of a player making his season debut with exactly zero practice time since ending a prolonged contract impasse with Toronto just last weekend.
The rest of Babcock’s team, which eventually showed signs life after a poor opening 40 minutes, didn’t really have an excuse.
Dylan Larkin scored at 2:48 of overtime, and the Detroit Red Wings survived a blown three-goal lead in the third period to beat the Maple Leafs 5- 4 and snap Toronto’s five-game winning streak.
Nylander agreed to a six-year, $45 million deal minutes before Saturday’s deadline for the restricted free agent to be eligible to play this season. He flew to Toronto on Sunday from Sweden, where he had been practicing with a junior team, twice went through drills with a Leafs assistant coach and took part in Thursday’s brief morning skate. Coming off consecutive 61-point seasons, the 22-year- old finished pointless in 12 minutes, 29 seconds of ice time and didn’t see any action in the final 14:35.
Nylander, who got a mostly warm reception when he stepped on the ice for his first shift, started on a line with Auston Matthews and Patrick Marleau before sitting.
CAPITALS 4, COYOTES 2 » Andre Burakovsky scored late in the third period, Pheonix Copley stopped 27 shots, and Washington snapped Arizona’s four-game winning streak. Burakovsky, moved up to the top line due to Tom Wilson’s injury, scored the game-winner on a shot that caromed in off Adin Hill’s blocker with 4:42 left. Christian Fischer and Lawson Crouse scored for Arizona, which lost for the first time since acquiring Nick Schmaltz in a trade with Chicago.
Washington’s Alex Ovechkin added an empty-net goal and became the fastest player in NHL history and ninth overall with 5,000 career shots, reaching the mark in 1,031 career games. Marcel Dionne was the previous fastest at 1,215 games. FLAMES 2, WILD 0 » Elias Lindholm scored both goals for Calgary, and Mike Smith made 31 saves in his second shutout of the season and has won his past five games. Lindholm got his 14th and 15th goals of the season and has 32 points in 29 games. The Flames improved to 13-2 this season when they score the first goal and are 3- 0 in December. GOLDEN KNIGHTS 4, BLACKHAWKS 3 » Jonathan Marchessault and Alex Tuch scored 12 seconds apart in the third period to send surging Vegas to its seventh win in eight games. The Golden Knights moved into a third-place tie with the Sharks in the Pacific Division with 33 points.
PENGUINS 6, ISLANDERS 2 » Phil Kessel had two goals and two assists, and Kris Letang also scored twice in Pittsburgh’s victory over New York. Sidney Crosby had his 15th goal and had two assists, and Riley Sheahan scored his fourth goal. The Penguins have won two straight and five of eight. Jake Guentzel had three assists and has a career-best six-game points streak for Pittsburgh.
LIGHTNING 3, BRUINS 2 » Mathieu Joseph and Anthony Cirelli scored early in the third period and Tampa Bay beat Boston for its fifth consecutive victory. After Joseph scored at 2:40, Cirelli put home a short-handed backhand 1:23 later to make it 3-1. Brayden Point also scored to help the NHL-leading Lightning improve to 22-7-1.
BLUE JACKETS 4, FLYERS 3 » Seth Jones scored his second goal of the game 10 seconds into overtime to lift Columbus past Philadelphia. Cam Atkinson fed a wide- open Jones in the slot moments into overtime, and Jones beat goalie Anthony Stolarz over his left shoulder.
CANADIENS 5, SENATORS 2 » Paul Byron scored twice, and Montreal beat Ottawa to sweep the home-and home series. Jeff Petry, Brendan Gallagher and Andrew Shaw also scored, and Carey Price stopped 19 shots. The Canadiens also beat the Senators 5-2 on Tuesday night in Montreal. AVALANCHE 5, PANTHERS 2 » Carl Soderberg scored twice, J.T. Compher broke a third-period tie, and Colorado beat Florida. Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog also scored, and Philipp Grubauer stopped 33 shots.