Nylander back at practice after injury scare
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The Maple Leafs practised at the Ford Performance Centre on Friday.
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Leafs forward William Nylander returned to the ice for practice on Friday only hours after a strange set of circumstances forced him from a pre-season game against the Montreal Canadiens.
The play, which Nylander described as an "accidental incident," happened in the first period when the Canadiens had the puck and Nylander was skating back towards the Leafs zone to help defend the rush. Linemate Nick Robertson was behind Nylander and pushed him with his stick in an effort to aid the back check.
"I just wasn't ready for it, because it didn't feel like it was needed at that point," Nylander said.
Nylander fell to the ice and slid headfirst into the leg of Canadiens forward Christian Dvorak. The 28-year-old stayed down for a few moments before heading straight to the dressing room. He was held out of the rest of the game for precautionary reasons.
While it's not unusual for players to push their teammates like that, the situation on Thursday night didn't seem to require such a move. Toronto had players back to defend Montreal's rush.
Robertson, who scored the game-winning goal in the second period, called Nylander after the game.
"I said it was all good," Nylander revealed. "'You scored, so it was all good.'"
And Nylander suggested Robertson wasn't entirely to blame.
"The ice has been really soft here at the beginning of the year," Nylander pointed out. "I think that also contributed to me digging forward into the ice a little bit, which led to the toe pick. But, whatever, it is what it is."
Nylander played all 82 games of the regular season last year, but missed three games with a head issue in the playoffs.
Teammates were relieved to see the 40-goal, 98-point man back on the ice on Friday.
"It's a scary situation when you kind of get that neck crank like that into a shin pad," said winger Mitch Marner. "Great seeing him in good spirits."
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Auston Matthews returned to practice for the first time since leaving Tuesday's session with an upper-body issue.
"Feeling much better," the star centre said. "Just maintenance stuff, nothing crazy, but just kind of needed a couple days to let it settle down and I'm feeling good now."
"He's doing well," said head coach Craig Berube. "He looked great out there today. He's in good shape. I've got no issues there, no worries."
Despite missing Thursday's pre-season game, Matthews feels the competitive nature of Berube's camp will help him get up to speed quickly.
"I think you can catch up with practice," the new Leafs captain said. "The way that practices have been structured, it's been a lot of battle drills, a lot of competitive components, which I think translates really good to games."
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After taking a hit to his knee from Michael Pezzetta in the first period on Thursday, John Tavares only played two shifts in the third period. The veteran centre explained afterwards that his leg was stiffening up, which led Berube to shut him down.
Tavares stayed off the ice on Friday. Berube said the 34-year-old centre was feeling "sore" and is considered day-to-day.
The pre-season games don't count in the standings, of course, but Tavares insists they are important stepping stones towards the season and worth the risk of injury.
"You just can't duplicate the intensity, the timing, the competitive element," Tavares said on Thursday night. "Even just getting the feel for the adrenaline, being on the bench, and the anticipation of the play, and certainly with a new coach and just getting a feel for things like that. There's nothing like a real game and what that's all about."
Nylander pointed out that the exhibition games this year have taken on added significance for him because he's adjusting to playing centre.
Matthews highlighted the need to build chemistry with teammates.
"I think the biggest thing is just kind of getting the summer habits out of your system and getting back to playing in that competitive environment," Matthews added.
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After a gruelling start to camp, Berube gave the NHL regulars a bit of a break on Friday. Practice only lasted 35 minutes and it focused exclusively on special teams work.
"They've been going hard," the coach said. "We try to practice [special teams] on the day of the games, but it's not the same look as a live kind of scrimmage like today. I wanted a lighter day for these guys that played last night. They've been going hard here for the last eight to nine days."
Associate coach Lane Lambert, who will oversee the penalty kill, was the loudest voice during the session.
"It's a pressure kill," Marner said. "I think we've got a lot of guys on our team that can move their feet very well and can read plays very well, so I think for us it's trying to make people uncomfortable on the power play. That's what we're going to try to do this year. And so far it's been fun just to learn the new kind of process. But we've kind of done this PK before, so I think guys will pick it up fairly quickly."
It feels like everyone is getting a chance to take penalty-kill reps at this camp. Even veteran tough guy Ryan Reaves is taking a turn.
"We're all new here," Berube explained. "We want to see what guys can do in those situations and how they react to certain things, their stick details, their minds, how they think with the PK. We've got to give them opportunities and see how they look."
Toronto finished 23rd in penalty-kill efficiency last season (76.9 per cent) and stumbled badly in that department during the playoff series against the Boston Bruins (64.7 per cent).
The Leafs have killed off all nine penalties so far in the three pre-season games.
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Playing alongside former London Knights Marner and Max Domi helped Easton Cowan produce his best game of the pre-season.
"Playing with them was something I'll never forget," said Cowan, who led the Knights to an Ontario Hockey League title last season.
Marner has been offering Cowan, Toronto's first-round pick in 2023, advice and encouragement during training camp.
"Just before the game, we were talking as a line," Marner said. "Just saying, 'Let's try to find the middle of the ice as much as possible.' He made a couple of great plays off the yellow into the centre of the ice to get some pucks towards the net."
Cowan's favourite moment came when Domi and Marner drew up a faceoff play to get him the puck.
"Unfortunately, Doms got kicked out of the dot, so it didn't go as planned," Cowan said with a smile. "They're having fun out there as well. They're just normal guys at the end of the day and I appreciated how they treated me."
After struggling to stand out in his first two pre-season games, Cowan fired three shots on net on Thursday, which matched the team high. He was credited with two hits and one blocked shot in 15 minutes and 28 seconds of ice time.
"I felt a bit better, obviously," Cowan noted. "I know I still got a bit more in me, but just [felt] more confidence. I felt like everything was clicking. I was moving my feet a bit more and creating more chances."
"He had a really good game and did a lot of good things," Berube said. "He skated with the puck, was strong on it in some puck battles, and won them. He hounded, as I expected. He is a good worker with skill. I thought he did that. He had a lot of energy out there and was very noticeable."
Cowan fired wide on a partial breakaway, which may have been his best chance.
"Gotta capitalize," the 19-year-old forward said. "You can do all that [other stuff] for fun, but if the puck doesn't go in the net it doesn't matter so going to work on that. It just takes practice and time and more patience when I have the puck in the slot."
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After missing the first two pre-season games with an upper-body injury, 6-foot-4, 216-pound forward Steven Lorentz made his debut with the Leafs on Thursday.
"Special," the Kitchener, Ont. native said. "It's an understatement. I tried to take it all in from the moment I got here to putting the gear on, looking around, just even looking at some of the names around the locker room, it's still pretty surreal. It's pre-season and you got basically a sold-out crowd. You're looking around and it's just so cool."
Lorentz, who is at camp on a professional tryout, admitted to dealing with some nerves early on.
"I just didn't want to mess up and get booed or something like that," the 28-year-old said with a smile. "I didn't want to let the crowd down and the boys."
"He was solid," said Berube. "It was exactly what I thought or had seen in the past. He is a really reliable player. Smart. Great energy. He is a big guy who skates well."
Lorentz, who scored one goal in 38 games with the Florida Panthers last season, acquitted himself well during an audition on the fourth line with David Kampf and Reaves.
"They think the game kind of like myself," Lorentz said. "We know our role. We're not 34 [Matthews] and 16 [Marner] here. We're not going to go put up a ton of goals this season. The simpler the better for us and I think that's why it worked a lot. Obviously, when you're playing with new players it takes a little bit to build that chemistry but as the game got on, we were talking on the bench and kind of making plays a bit and we would go out there and it would come to fruition a little bit. It was nice to build that confidence early. Playing with guys that are heavy below the corners and like to go to the net and hang onto pucks, that's my game too. We did a good job, but there's room for improvement too."
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Power-play units during Friday's Group 1 practice:
PP1
Rielly, Matthews, Marner, Nylander, McMann/Cowan*
PP2
Ekman-Larsson, Robertson, Domi, Pacioretty, Knies
5-on-3
Rielly, Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Domi*
*Tavares absent
Lines in Friday's practice for players in Group 2:
Hirvonen - Shaw - A. Nylander
Barbolini - Quillan - Abruzzese
Blandisi - Pare - Grebenkin
Kressler - Stevens - Tverberg
Webber - Myers
Kokkonen - Mattinen
Pietroniro - Niemela
Villeneuve - Miller
Murray
Hildeby