LAS VEGAS — William Nylander had a goal and an assist in the first 5:03 of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 6-5 overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, but he departed the game two shifts after his last offensive contribution.
In 38 games this season, Nylander leads the Leafs with 48 points (17 goals and 31 assists). Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube, perhaps frustrated by his team’s inability to hold a two-goal lead in the third period, admitted after the game that Nylander sustained an aggravation to a lower-body injury that previously kept the skilled winger out for six games.
“Well, it’s hard. He was back playing great and then now he’s out again,” Berube said. “We’ll see how long”.
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It’s unclear exactly how Nylander got hurt, but his leg did appear to buckle a bit while celebrating his lone goal of the game.
“Willy’s a very important player for us. So it’s not ideal, but, you know, he leaves early and he still impacted the game pretty well,” John Tavares said of Nylander. “Obviously tough to see him leave. But injuries have been part of our group the whole year and the way we’ve had to kind of come around it and guys step up and the way the lineup unfolds”.
The good news for the Leafs is that they went 4-0-2 in that six-game stretch when Nylander first sustained the injury, so the club has shown an ability to push past injuries to key players this season.
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After the game, Nylander was seen walking around, catching up with players on the opposing team and was all smiles. From that standpoint, it could be good news. However, because this could be something that lingers, the Leafs must be mindful since the first six games he missed clearly didn’t eradicate the ailment.
Even though they only had Nylander for 2:17 of ice time on Thursday, the inability to hold onto the third-period lead was the most visible annoyance for Berube.
“It’s frustrating to lose this game tonight,” Berube said. “We got off to a great start. I thought we played really well tonight for the most part of the game. You know, we’ve just got to be smarter in certain situations. That’s what it boils down to tonight. I think we played a pretty solid game tonight, but we made some mistakes that we don’t need to make in the third period and probably win the game”.
