William Nylander leads resilient Maple Leafs to Game 7 – Sportsnet.ca

TORONTO – William Nylander was still catching his breath on the Toronto Maple Leafs bench after scoring the goal that sparked Game 7 when, noticing that Scotiabank Arena had displayed his image on the Jumbotron, he took an open gloved hand to ear.

The arena was already going crazy, witnessing a dramatic script being changed in real time, but like Hulk Hogan, another blonde athletic superstar who prefers to take off the mats and his theatrical comebacks, Nylander wanted to hear more.

By scoring both of the Maple Leafs’ goals in style in Thursday’s tight, win-or-stay Game 6, Nylander may have been too late to put his stamp on this series. But his performance (heck, the entire team’s performance) in a gutsy 2-1 victory now has the Boston Bruins on the ropes.

Toronto is just a step away.

“Unbelievable. Big stuff. That’s what you expect from a player of his caliber,” marveled coach Sheldon Keefe, who could have said good things about his players all night if he didn’t have to catch a plane.

“He’s a great game-breaker. When you have the puck on your stick, you can make something happen at any time. Two elite finishes for us tonight,” added captain John Tavares. “It’s not surprising. I love having it.”

No Auston Matthews, no problem.

Believe it or not, the Maple Leafs have had their best back-to-back efforts all season, and they arrived with their Hart Trophy candidate curiously and indefinitely sidelined.

“They joined. They fought. They did not accept their fate. They changed it,” Keefe said. “I think it’s a reflection of the character of the group.”

That character wasn’t just under the microscope the last time this back-and-forth defensive clinic of a series came to Toronto. He was being harshly criticized.

Keefe knew what the town said about its hockey team. Behind closed doors, the desperate coach challenged an underperforming group: “You will be remembered one way or another. So what do you want it to be and look like?

In Game 6, it looked like the Bruins would have to be limited to one measly shot in the first period. He seemed very disciplined, as Toronto committed only one minor penalty (a trip by goalie Joseph Woll). It seemed like a sacrifice, as the Leafs outshot and outblocked the B’s 27-14.

In the series Where Targets Go to Die, he seemed downright resilient, committed, and unified.

Plus, if you’re faced with this sudden blue wave of inspiration, it looks formidable.

“Toronto is starting on time. They are getting the advantage. They have the momentum. I think in the last 30 minutes we pulled back very well. “It shouldn’t take that long,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “They have won more battles. They spent more time in our O zone, forcing us to defend ourselves. We don’t have as much juice the other way.

“Right now we are not happy with our game.”

The thing is, until this recent stellar turn, Nylander wasn’t happy with his game either. He limped out of the 82-game marathon frustrated at falling two points shy of 100 and not surpassing his personal record of 40 goals. He had been on a worrying 13-game goal drought.

Call it inertia. Or maybe just waiting for something to appear.

Worse yet, his head hurt so much that he couldn’t even get dressed in Games 1 through 3.

“It sucks to be on the sidelines,” Nylander said.

Nylander was lost in Game 4, then showed flashes in Game 5. There were no scoring plays, but he did hit the crossbar. He had some legs.

“I thought I had taken some steps. He was much better in terms of moving his feet and creating opportunities. He’s looking for one to break and move on,” Keefe said before the game, animated.

That break came when Nylander broke a 0-0 tie with a wrist shot that clipped defenseman Charlie McAvoy and beat goaltender Jeremy Swayman with 55 seconds left in the second.

It broke for good when Nylander went up the stomach and yelled at Matthew Knies to calmly pass the puck to him to end the breakaway.

“All I had to do was put it on his cane,” Knies said. “Remarkable. He hit a great shot. He scored two goals. You can’t ask for much more of him.”

Keefe approved: “When he plays like that, the offense finds him.”

Now the pressure to find offense is shared equally, both coaches are on the bench and both clubs are looking for ways to beat a marked goalkeeper.

Desperation is scheduled for Saturday night at TD Garden.

“It’s more of his back-to-the-wall mentality,” Boston D-man Kevin Shattenkirk said. “That’s the mentality we have to adopt.”

game seven: The two most exhilarating and painful words in team sports.

“It’s special,” Nylander smiled. “I don’t know if we’ve won one yet, so we’re ready for the test.”

Fox’s Fast Five

• In Boston, they will be the other 88th starters in the series.

“The pasta needs to step up,” Montgomery challenged from the postgame podium.

The coach is still expecting a big moment from his team’s MVP, David Pastrnak. After juggling his linemates around him without success, he highlighted his greatest talent.

“He needs to be the dominant player we are used to. He does it in bursts,” Montgomery said. “He’s not doing it as consistently as he did in the regular season.”

Pastrnak scored a pair of goals and had assists in the first four games of the series, but was held scoreless in the final two games. On Thursday he sat in the box for a double minor infraction. It’s a minus-1 in the series.

Give the Maple Leafs credit for executing their defensive game plan at number 88. Things are getting tense on the other end.

“Maybe I should have a little more of a shooting mentality,” Pastrnak said. “That usually always helps me.”

• We’ll keep harping on Toronto’s power play, which is a tough watch, boy.

It’s notable that the Maple Leafs have three wins considering their power play is now 1-for-20.

The Leafs have gotten six more power plays than the Bruins in this series, but they haven’t been able to take advantage of that.

• More good news in Leafland: Toronto top prospect Easton Cowan has been awarded the Red Tilson Trophy as the 2023-24 Most Outstanding Player in the Ontario Hockey League.

• Woll became the first goaltender in NHL history to make each of his first four playoff starts in an elimination game. Make that record five on Saturday.

The poor guy had his potential shutout wiped off the board when Morgan Geekie pushed a puck over the line with 0.1 seconds left in regulation.

Woll downplayed it and said his mind is only focused on victories.

• Did Swayman just guarantee a victory in Game 7?

“As a collective group, our job is to play better than theirs,” Swayman told me, still smiling after back-to-back losses.

“That’s the motivation that gets us going, and that’s what’s going to make it feel so special when we beat these guys in the next game.”