Nonchalant Nylander downplays shot at Leafs history

The Maple Leafs and Los Angeles Kings practised at the Ford Performance Centre in Toronto on Monday ahead of Tuesday’s game at Scotiabank Arena. 

With a point in all eight games so far in 2023-24, William Nylander has tied the Maple Leafs record for the longest scoring streak to start a season, joining a list that includes Frank Mahovlich (1961-62), Lanny McDonald (1976-77) and John Anderson (1982-83). Nylander can stand alone if he gets on the scoresheet again on Tuesday night. 

"If it happens, it happens," the 27-year-old said. "I'm just focused on having a good game and that's where my mind's at."

Nylander has strung together a lot of good games already this season. The winger leads the Leafs with 12 points.   

"He's one of the absolute top players in the league right now," said defenceman John Klingberg. "He's been our best player."

In the Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner era, Nylander has rarely, if ever, been described that way. But it's hard to argue right now considering the torrid start. 

"He's creating something on the ice all the time," said Klingberg, who played with Nylander twice at the World Championship. "I think he's been a little underrated over here, but now you see what he's capable of."

"He's really grown his game to be more well-rounded, more complete," observed linemate John Tavares. "You see that with him playing more minutes on the penalty kill, more defensive-zone situations and things like that so I think he's just had a lot of growth in a lot of areas and that's a natural evolution of an elite player, very driven player." 

It certainly feels like Nylander has taken his game to a new level. Does it feel that way to him? 

"I just feel like I'm just doing my thing that I have been doing for the past couple years," he said before breaking into a smile. "It's nice that you think I've hit a new level, but we'll just keep going."

"He's a super skilled player," said Kings defenceman Drew Doughty. "Very, very talented. I've always heard that about him, one of the most talented guys in the league. He's playing with a lot of confidence right now and when you're playing with confidence and you have that talent you're going to dominate."

Nylander is seeking sustained success. Last year he scored a career-high 40 goals, but also had a dip in play late in the season. 

"The consistency piece is something that is 82 games," noted coach Sheldon Keefe. "It is a long road. Certainly, with the way that he played, he has picked up where he left off in terms of his start to last season. To me, maybe what has been consistent is that, like last season, he has gotten off to a great start. He looked like he was really prepared coming into training camp and then carried it through to the regular season."

Nylander produced seven points in the first eight games last season and was held without a point in two of those outings. So, this start is even better and it sets the table for the rest of the year. 

"We've seen some of the goals he scored this year, right, just pretty remarkable," said Tavares. "Remarkable plays, ability, and within those you see the drive and the determination. There's no doubt he's continuing to push himself and wanting to be dominant, be one of the best players in the world."

Nylander's greatest test is still to come, but a strong start can be a springboard. 

"You always want to start off hot," said Doughty when asked about his personal experience. "I don't know, there's something about when you don't start off hot, you feel like the whole season is going to be a s**t show for you. So, you try really hard to get off on the right foot."

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Timothy Liljegren, who left Saturday's game and did not return after absorbing a shoulder check from Nashville's Yakov Trenin in the second period, was back at practice on Monday. 

"Just kind of caught me in a bad spot," the right-shot defenceman said. "And then hurt pretty bad so we had to go check it out, but the pain disappeared pretty quick after so it's no worries. I'm good to go."

"It seemed like it settled down pretty quickly for him," said Keefe. "It became more of a muscle spasm situation versus any sort of damage done."

That's good news for the Leafs, who saw left-shot defenceman Jake McCabe exit Thursday's game in Dallas with a groin injury. McCabe didn't skate on Monday, but is expected back on the ice later this week, per Keefe. 

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Ilya Samsonov sounded refreshed after his first practice back from a trying trip. What's it like being home?

"It's unbelievable," the 26-year-old goalie said. "I miss my baby, yeah, my wife too."

Samsonov lost the first game of the road swing in Florida before being shelled for three goals on four shots during a game in Tampa. He was pulled from that game and watched Joseph Woll stop every shot in relief as the Leafs rallied to beat the Lightning in overtime. Woll then started and won the next two games. On Friday, Samsonov opened up about the mental toll the poor start has had on him and his family. 

"It's hard road trip for me, this is true, but I'm happy to be home," said Samsonov, who allowed three goals on 24 shots in Saturday's overtime loss to the Predators. "A little bit rest my brain last night. Today back to work. I enjoy to be here. So good. Everything good. I feel like I'm the right way right now. Everything is good. A lot of positive things."

Samsonov described Saturday's game as "a step forward" even though he apologized for a poor read on the first Predators goal. Will he get a chance to build some momentum on Tuesday? 

"Woll will play tomorrow," Keefe responded. "But I do think it is a good chance to get some momentum here in terms of getting back, feeling better about himself, and building off of the work that he had done. He would agree, as we all would, that Joseph Woll did a terrific job for us on that trip. We want to get him back in."

Woll is 3-1-0 with a .961 save percentage this season. Among goalies who have multiple starts, only Jonathan Quick has a better save percentage. 

"It is a long season," Keefe said. "We know we are going to need both guys. We have Woll in a good place. We want to keep building Sammy up and taking advantage of every day. Certainly, for him, especially being somewhat of a new father, I am sure he feels much better back home. It is tough on all of us being away for as long as we were. It is certainly nice to be back."

It will be Woll's first start against the Kings. 

"I gotta say I don't know a ton," admitted Kings centre Anze Kopitar. "But obviously he's having a good start. We'll look at some tendencies and hopefully we can spot a weaknesses or two and try to exploit it."

"He's played pro hockey long enough," said Kings coach Todd McLellan. "Our goaltending department will have an idea what to expect ... We know that he's provided a ton of confidence for himself and the team and we expect him to be as good as he's been."

McLellan said he will "likely" stick with Cam Talbot in net.  

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Samsonov wasn't the only Leaf eager to get home. 

"I think that may have been the longest trip of my career," said Tavares, who's in his 15th NHL season. "It was a long one. It was up there, especially right off the bat when you haven't done it in five months. It was long, but we're happy with some of the results we got. For everyone just to get home and see their families, home-cooked meal, nothing quite like that."

The five-game trip is the longest one the Leafs will have this season. They spent 11 nights on the road with stops in Sunrise, Fla., Tampa, Washington, Dallas and Nashville.  

Nylander was happy to get home and see his two dogs. 

"That's what I was looking forward to," he said. 

Did he get a warm welcome? 

"It was like 10 minutes of chaos," Nylander said. "So that was good."

It was a long, but productive trip with the Leafs gaining seven out of a possible 10 points. 

"We built a good stretch of games and established how we want to play for the most part," Nylander said. 

The Kings, meanwhile, are starting a four-game trip. 

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Doughty has already scored four goals through just eight games this season. It must feel good to see some nice numbers on the stat sheet early on?

"I mean, I really don't have that many points," Doughty said with his trademark toothy grin. "Mikey's beating me this year."

It's true Mikey Anderson leads the Kings blue line with seven points, which is one more than Doughty. 

"But, yeah, I'm off to my hottest goal start ever," the 33-year-old said. "I want to keep it going. I'm just trying to shoot the puck. The boys are making great screens on all my goals. They're giving me the puck in the right spot and really I'm just shooting the puck as much as I can. Not really doing anything different, it's just going in the net for me."

Doughty is averaging 1.88 shots on net per game, which is up only slightly from 1.79 a season ago. 

"Confidence is a big thing," said McLellan. "We're only eight games in, you can put that segment anywhere throughout the season and if you don't score or don't feel good about your game it's not that big a deal sometimes, but the beginning of the year you have nothing else to reference. Certainly getting the confidence and assuredness of Drew's shot right now, he's willing to use it a little bit more, it's been going in the net for him, so he's got to feel good about himself."

Doughty scored nine goals in 81 games last season. He's reached double figures seven times, most recently in 2017-18. 

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Klingberg has mustered just eight shots on net so far with only four coming in 5-on-5 play. 

"That's probably the one thing that I feel really needs to get going here," the 31-year-old said. "I don't feel I've had enough shot attempts and when I do it seems to get blocked as well."

Klingberg, who leads the Leafs in offensive-zone starts (69.7 per cent), is still adjusting to a new system and doesn't want to lose sight of his defensive responsibilities. 

"I know it's going to come but, at the same time, I don't want to chase the game," he said. "That's where I've been struggling before is when you get frustrated and try to do too much. So, just let the game come to me and just try to be more active in the O-zone and that will come into place as well."  

Klingberg had six shots blocked on Saturday in Nashville. How does he get more through? 

"It comes with getting more comfortable and delivering the puck and it also has to be a mindset that I want to shoot the puck more," he said. 

With McCabe sidelined, William Lagesson has been called up and is skating alongside Klingberg on the third pair. Both defencemen are from the same city – Gothenburg, Sweden – and have a built-in chemistry. 

"Been skating together in summers the last five, six years so I know him really good so that makes it a lot easier to come in and play a game," Klingberg said. "This is our first game [action] with each other, but knowing each other from before helps a lot. This guy is really good at reading the game. You might not see a lot of offence all the time from him, but I think he's on the right spot on the ice all the time offensively and defensively. What he's really good at is one-on-one battles. He seems to win his battles all the time, which is what it always comes down to in hockey. If you win your one-on-one battles you come a long way." 

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Kings winger Quinton Byfield is getting set to play his first NHL game in his hometown. 

"I wasn't able to come the last two times here because of injuries, sicknesses, so a lot of people have been reaching out saying they're coming to the game," said the 21-year-old from Newmarket, Ont. "I'd probably say I know close to 50 people [coming], maybe more, so it's a big one."

Byfield was a Tampa Bay Lightning fan when he was a kid, because he admired Martin St. Louis. He recalls attending a few Leafs-Lightning games while growing up. Now, it's his turn to take the ice in Toronto. 

"We only play them once a year so it's always marked on the calendar for the guys who are from Ontario," Byfield said. "I got a lot of buddies, who are big passionate Leafs fans. Hopefully they're cheering for me tomorrow. Even my dad [Clinton], he was a big Leafs fan as well so it will be bittersweet for him tomorrow."

Will he be cheering for the Kings? 

"I hope so," Byfield said with a smile. 

Doughty was surprised to learn that Byfield has not played in Toronto before. 

"I didn't know that," he said. "That's exciting. We grew up watching the Leafs, it feels pretty legendary to play in the arena that you grew up watching the team play in."

Doughty scored a goal (his 10th of the season) and added an assist (his 30th of the season) in a 5-3 Kings win during his first NHL game in Toronto back on Jan. 26, 2010. 

"I remember I hit some really big bonuses," Doughty said with a grin. "That was a good day."

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After scoring just three times in 53 games last season, Byfield already has a pair of goals this season. 

"Q is a confident guy right now which is great to see," said Kopitar. "He had a few really good games last year, but the numbers didn't really show it. This year he's getting rewarded on the scoresheet too so it's great. He's using his speed, his skill and his size [6-foot-5, 225 pounds] so it's great to see him develop and playing with a little swagger too."

Byfield, who was the second overall pick in 2020, is skating on the top top line with Kopitar and Adrian Kempe. 

"Confident," said McLellan when asked what he likes so far about Byfield's play. "That's the biggest thing right now. He's earned the right to be confident. And it's not necessarily coming through numbers, goals and assists, but the way he plays. He doesn't need stats to stay. He contributes if he's not on the scoreboard and as a result he's been getting on the scoreboard. He fits that line very well. Uses his big body. He's a tenacious forechecker, turns a lot of pucks over for the other two and we’re really pleased with his play to this point."

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With Joe Thornton making his retirement official over the weekend, Doughty was asked what he'll remember most about going up against the legendary Sharks forward. 

"He's my only fight in the NHL so that's one thing," Doughty said. "And he smoked me."

What led to that fight? 

"He sticked me in the nuts so then I cross-checked him and then he just dropped the mitts and then, yeah, I got smoked. I took like 10 [punches] to the face. I was all right. Didn't drop."  

Get any shots in? 

"No," Doughty said with a laugh. "I got zero in. No, I got smoked in that fight. I had no chance."

Doughty and Thornton were teammates several times in international competition, including at the 2010 Olympics where they won gold together in Vancouver.  

"We were like buddies when we would play on those Team Canada teams," Doughty recalled. "We'd go into the [NHL] game and I'd always be like, 'Hey, like, what's up Jumbo? How you doing?' And he would never respond to me. He would never be friendly with me when we were playing against them. I learned it's a whole different mentality coming from him when we're in game. He's focused and serious. I still, every game, kept trying to be friends with him and I never got through. He's a guy that, as a boy from London, Ont., I looked up to my entire life, my entire career. He had a great Hall-of-Fame career and it sucks that he's not playing any more, to be honest, because I played my entire career against him."

Thornton spent one season (2020-21) with the Leafs. 

"An honour to play with a legend like him," said Nylander. 

"What I remember most is the passion and energy that he has coming to the rink," said Keefe. "For a guy who has played as long as he had at that point — and with everything that he has accomplished in his career — to come into our team and still have the drive and passion ... That is what I really remember."

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Lines at Leafs practice on Monday: 

Jarnkrok - Matthews - Marner 
Bertuzzi - Tavares - Nylander 
Knies - Kampf - Domi 
Gregor - Holmberg - Reaves 

Rielly - Brodie 
Giordano - Liljegren 
Lagesson - Klingberg 

Woll 
Samsonov 

Note: University of Toronto Varsity Blues defencemen Nick Grima and Emmett Serensits skated as the fourth defence pair at practice to create a more balanced workout.