TORONTO — William Nylander has joined the Stanley Cup chase.
TORONTO — William Nylander has joined the Stanley Cup chase.
The Maple Leafs winger was within the lineup for Recreation 4 of Toronto’s first-round playoff sequence with the Boston Bruins on Saturday evening after sitting out the primary three contests with an undisclosed damage.
Nylander, whose crew trailed Boston 2-1 within the best-of-seven Authentic Six matchup coming into play, scored 40 objectives for the second consecutive common season to associate with a career-high 98 factors in 2023-24.
The 27-year-old additionally had 10 factors in 11 playoff video games final spring as Toronto received a sequence for the primary time since 2004.
Rookie winger Nick Robertson stayed within the lineup on the fourth line alongside David Kampf and Ryan Reaves. Connor Dewar was the odd man out. Leafs defenceman T.J. Brodie, in the meantime, took the spot of Timothy Liljegren on the blue line after he was a wholesome scratch to open the sequence.
Recreation 5 goes Tuesday in Boston. Recreation 6, if essential, can be Thursday again in Toronto.
“It would be large,” Leafs defenceman Jake McCabe mentioned Saturday morning of Nylander’s potential addition. “Any time you get one of many high gamers within the league again in your lineup, it is a fairly optimistic factor. He does so much for us.
“He can change a sport on the snap of a finger … Willy’s necessary to our group.”
Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe mentioned deciding which participant would come out of the lineup wasn’t a slam dunk.
“Not a straightforward resolution in any respect,” Keefe mentioned. “Dewar has completed an amazing job in his personal place in what we have requested of him.”
Nylander’s absence was the primary time he’d missed time resulting from damage since November 2016.
The Swede’s introduction was a great addition for Toronto’s assault, which had scored six objectives in 9 intervals and was simply 1-for-11 on the facility play coming into Saturday.
Additionally a part of a penalty kill that is surrendered 5 objectives on 10 alternatives to the Bruins, Nylander took warm-ups on a line with countrymen Calle Jarnkrok and Pontus Holmberg after additionally lining up that means earlier than Recreation 3 and once more at Friday’s apply.
“A key participant for his or her crew,” Bruins defenceman Kevin Shattenkirk mentioned. “He is deadly, he can rating, make performs, provides added firepower. He is somebody that you just positively fear about and should plan for. We’re actually conscious of that and know what he can do.”
He added Boston deliberate to lean on Nylander as a lot as potential.
“Even whenever you’re enjoying Recreation 1, whenever you’re wholesome, the velocity ramps up, the depth ramps up,” Shattenkirk mentioned of playoff hockey. “We simply should make it as uncomfortable as potential for him.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed April 27, 2024.
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Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press
