Nylander earns a rest after closing gap in Rocket race
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The Maple Leafs enjoyed a day off the ice in Seattle on Wednesday.
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William Nylander scored his second career hat trick on Tuesday. It came exactly eight years to the day after his first one.
"No way," the Leafs winger said with a smile. "That's wild."
The big performance resonated even more because of the venue. Nylander was born in Calgary in 1996 when his dad played for the Flames. He only spent two years in the city and doesn't remember those early Alberta days, but still feels a connection.
"Scoring in my birth town, putting up a hatty, that's something I'll remember," he said.
The huge contingent of Leafs fans in attendance inside the Scotiabank Saddledome rained hats down on the ice after Nylander scored his third goal into an empty net to seal a 6-3 win.
"We have a huge following and the best fans," said Nylander, who was drafted in 2014 by the Leafs and is in the first year of an eight-year contract extension. "The support we get from our fans is tremendous so to see those hats come down is special."
In the moments after the game, Nylander was asked how he planned to celebrate.
"I don't know, just on to Seattle," the 28-year-old told TSN before breaking into a smile. "I don't know, maybe a day off tomorrow."
"He likes days off, I'll tell you that," coach Craig Berube said with a laugh. "We'll see. I'll have a chat with him about it."
In the end, Nylander got his wish. The Leafs cancelled Wednesday's practice and held a team stretch instead.
"A lot of travel right now," Berube explained. "And, you know, competitive game last night. There's guys that played a lot of minutes."
The Leafs are in the middle of a season long 10-day trip, which will continue with a game against the Kraken on Thursday.
Nylander certainly earned a rest after scoring three times on Tuesday and, in the process, extending his goal streak to three games. He's now second in the NHL with 33 goals, which is four behind Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl.
Nylander is on pace for 51 goals, which would shatter his previous career high of 40 set in each of the last two seasons. He's never finished higher than a tie for 14th in the Rocket Richard Trophy race. But now, suddenly, it feels like the goal-scoring crown may be within reach.
"No doubt," Berube said. "I mean, this guy gets chances every game, and good ones. He's world class, in my opinion, with his shot, his speed, his agility. He does a lot of really good things. I mean, whether he wins it or not I don't know, but he's doing a lot of good things every night that gives him an opportunity to."
Nylander raised eyebrows before Tuesday's game when he said he knew nothing about Flames rookie goalie Dustin Wolf and didn't plan to research him before the game. Nylander explained that he prefers to rely on his instincts. That's probably a good approach considering he has some of the best goal-scoring instincts in the game.
"He makes it look easy every time," marvelled Leafs winger Bobby McMann. "It's crazy. Sometimes he just holds that shot or just finds those little spots just above the pad, below the glove, and makes it look easy ... He kind of baits the goalie for a half second. He leans into it, but then, like, holds it for a second just before he shoots. I think it throws the goalie off a little bit."
While Nylander enjoys days off, like on Sunday when he joined a group of teammates in Banff, the smooth-skating Swede also makes the most of his practice time.
Joseph Woll could only chuckle when Nylander scored his second goal in the second period on Tuesday night.
"In practice [on Monday] he scored on me every time he shot," the Leafs goalie said. "So as soon as he got the puck on the 2-on-1 I'm like, there's no question he's going to score this. He's a special player and any time the puck's in his hands, he's dangerous."
And that's why Woll admitted to being surprised that Nylander only had one previous three-goal explosion.
"It feels like he scores every game so, yeah, that is surprising," Woll said.
Nylander recorded 32 two-goal games between hat tricks.
When he failed to convert on a nice set up by McMann in the third period, Nylander felt like a hat trick wasn't meant to be on Tuesday.
"I didn't really expect that to happen," he said. "I mean, I've had a lot of other games where I've had two goals and not been able to score. So, you know, it was nice that I finally got one."
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The Leafs did not hold a practice on Wednesday, but Mitch Marner skated for the first time since Saturday's game in Edmonton.
"I think he's in a good spot," said Berube. "Good possibility he could play tomorrow."
Marner missed his first game of the season on Tuesday due to a lower-body injury.
The Leafs will hold a full team skate on Thursday morning.
"He'll be on the ice and we'll go from there," Berube said.
Marner leads the team with 70 points.
The Leafs are now 22-17-2 when Marner is out of the lineup.
On Tuesday, Max Domi took Marner's spot on the top line beside Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies.
"He had a good game, I thought," Berube said. "He did a lot of good things on that line. He controlled the play in the offensive zone, made plays, and found people."
Domi finished plus-one in 14 minutes and 59 seconds of ice time.
"He made great plays," Knies said. "I thought he was moving his feet. I thought he was slashing across the ice really well and just creating space. He had some good looks."
Although Domi did not land a shot on net and his goal drought reached 20 games.
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Defenceman Morgan Rielly took Marner's spot as the quarterback on the top power-play unit and the Leafs didn't miss a beat. Toronto scored on its first two man-advantage opportunities in Calgary.
"The power play was really good," Berube said. "It was key for us."
"Keeping it simple, and keeping the puck moving quickly is huge," said Nylander, who scored his first power-play goal since Dec. 7. "And getting pucks to the net."
The Leafs also scored twice on the power play on Saturday in Edmonton.
Toronto is eight for 18 in its last eight games since Jan. 15. That 44.4 per cent conversion rate leads the NHL in this stretch. What's working right now?
"I just think the simplicity of it," Knies said. "Getting shots on net, you know, just rebounds, little plays like that. I think it's been helping us."
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Anthony Stolarz continues to inch closer to a return to the Leafs crease.
"Stolarz felt a lot better yesterday with his timing and tracking pucks and things like that," Berube said. "He's improving. He's getting to the point where he's ready."
Stolarz has been sidelined with a knee injury since Dec. 12. He is ready to play physically but the 31-year-old, a self-described "perfectionist," wants to make sure he's got his details down before returning to game action.
Is the plan for Stolarz to start on Thursday?
"We'll see how he does today and go from there," Berube said. "I got to make decisions on these guys yet, and they got to make decisions on themselves, so we'll see where they're at."
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Woll has made 18 starts since Stolarz went down. Only Colorado Avalanche keeper Mackenzie Blackwood has started more games in this stretch.
Woll picked up the win on Tuesday with an assist from the team's video coaches, who initiated another successful challenge for goalie interference.
"They're dialled," Woll said. "I appreciate their work up there. They help me out a lot."
Video coordinator and statistical analyst Jordan Bean and video and coaching coordinator Sam Kim radioed down to the bench to have Berube challenge a Joel Farabee goal in the first period. It didn't seem like much, but they saw Jonathan Huberdeau make contact with Woll before the puck entered the net.
The Leafs were able to wipe out a potential game-tying goal by Draisaitl on Saturday thanks to an offside challenge.
All five of Toronto's challenges this season have been successful and they have all come in wins. Woll has been the goalie of record in four of the games.
"I listen to them," Berube said of the video coaches he inherited in Toronto. "They have done a great job — a really, really good job. They are dialled in on it. They study it. They look at a lot of goals around the league in different situations. They are on it. They are looking at everything around the league all the time, and they understand what is going on — what should be called and what shouldn't be called. They have done a fantastic job."
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McMann scored his 16th goal of the season on Tuesday, which established a new career high.
"It's cool," the undrafted 28-year-old said. "I was just trying to break into the league, establish myself as a regular, and now to be contributing like that is a lot of fun."
McMann was set to be a healthy scratch on Feb. 13 last year when an illness to John Tavares allowed him to stay in the lineup. The Colgate University product responded with a hat trick and took off from there eventually earning a two-year contract extension on March 13.
McMann is third on the team with 14 goals in 5-on-5 play this season. He's gone from fringe forward to key contributor very quickly.
“He's done unbelievable," said Knies. "He's definitely found that power forward game."
Berube scratched McMann on opening night this season because he felt the 6-foot-2, 215 pounder was playing hesitant and not using his size enough. But the coach has no complaints right now.
"He is playing really good hockey," said Berube. "His skating is elite. He drives pucks deep and drives them wide. He is hard on pucks. He is using his shot and finishing."
McMann is scoring on 14 per cent of his shots, which is fourth on the team behind only Knies (23.3), Nylander (18.1) and Tavares (16.3).
"He's a strong dude," Woll said. "He's got a lot of muscle on that body, so he puts a lot of weight behind it. He shoots the puck well, and he's accurate with it."
McMann's goal in Calgary came when he called his own number on a 2-on-1 rush.
"I was just trying to look to see if there was a pass," he said. "Once I saw [Wolf] started to kind of slide towards me I know it's kind of a higher-probability shot to go far side there. So, I just tried to rip it and went in."
McMann, a native of Wainwright, Alta., also scored in Edmonton on Saturday. Edmonton is closer to his hometown and he had plenty of friends and family inside Rogers Place for that game. Initially, he only expected six guests for Tuesday's game in Calgary, but ended up handing a list of 18 names to security.
"I was just trying to enjoy it and have fun," he said of the Alberta swing, "not trying to put too much pressure on it."
One spectator, in particular, stood out.
"It's really nice to see my grandma," he said. "I think she's watched every game since I've been in juniors, hasn't missed a single one, so it's pretty cool for her to see one live, see me score. That was pretty special."
McMann's grandma had never seen him score an NHL goal live until Saturday's game.
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Defenceman Conor Timmins is dealing with an upper-body injury and is unlikely to play on Thursday, per Berube.
Philippe Myers is set to draw in.
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Leafs lines in Tuesday's game:
Knies - Matthews - Domi
Pacioretty - Tavares - Nylander
McMann - Homberg - Robertson
Lorentz - Kampf - Reaves
McCabe - Tanev
Rielly - Ekman-Larsson
Benoit - Timmins
Woll
Murray