TORONTO — When the sky is falling, William Nylander casually picks up the globe and turns it upside-down.
Feels more than fitting, then, that the guy who came thisclose to nudging the Toronto Maple Leafs toward a sixth consecutive loss — for the first time since the lads were trying to get Mike Babcock fired, no less — was the same guy who put a dazzling Gotta See Itâ„¢ finish on Tuesdayâ€s skid-stopping overtime winner over the St. Louis Blues.
Nylander, weâ€ll remind you, entered this oddly pressure-packed mid-November Desperation Bowl between the NHLâ€s two most disappointing teams in their respective conference after getting chewed out by his coach in practice and failing to register a shot in consecutive games for the first time since that tumultuous winter of 2019.
The Scotiabank Arena air buckling under the weight of underperformance, only No. 88 could slough off a first-period own goal to give the Blues an early lead and the home team another hole to claw out from.
“Snipe,†Nylander joked after the 3-2 win of his midair backhander beat Joseph Woll. “To be honest, I donâ€t know what I was thinking.
“But it was nice to fill the back of the net early.â€
Nylanderâ€s message to Woll, who has been stabilizing Torontoâ€s crease nicely since his return, was simple: “I said, ‘Sorry.†He said, ‘Itâ€s all good.†I said, ‘Thank you.â€
Said Woll: “He made up for it. Weâ€re square. One and one.â€
Sometimes the bad gets so ridiculous bad, we canâ€t help but cackle.
Maybe because we assume it canâ€t get worse.
So, the Leafs were strangely chatty and curiously positive after their highest scorerâ€s unforced error.
“We almost laughed it off,†Steven Lorentz said. “It was kind of just a sign of how things have been going for us lately.â€
Added Jake McCabe: “We spoke after the first one goes off our own twig in the net. It could have been like, ‘Ah, f—, here we go again†kind of thing. But we stuck with it.â€
The hockey was hardly pretty, but this is what clawing out of a five-game rut with seven regulars injured looks like.
Defenceman McCabe, with a bloody gash over his right eye, picking a corner on Jordan Binnington from 64 feet.
Game-time replacement Sammy Blais carving a brilliant rush and saucing a beautiful pass to winger-forced-centre Lorentz out of his game-low 6:31 ice time.
And Nylander, rebounding from his own goal to secure the bonus point in the 65th minute after St. Louis hogged the puck for the bulk of 3-on-3. Then kissing one of his silky mitts and raising it to the rafters in triumph.
“His persona is kind of his superpower, right?†Woll marvelled.
“Whether or not he scores on our net or their net, heâ€s pretty much the same.â€
One day ago, Nylander was asked to describe the mood of a Leafs team that, to any observer, including the general manager, lacked energy and confidence.
He shrugged and said everything was positive. Maybe if they were still losing for another month, the mood might flip.
How does the superstar resist riding the emotional waves that hydrofuel Leafs Nation?
“I think you have to. And I think thatâ€s something that youâ€ve learned playing here,†said Nylander, an extra button undone. “There are ups and downs, always, in every season, if itâ€s team or personal or whatever. It happens, so you just gotta stay even.â€
Even after grinding out a relief win over a flawed opponent — the first for Woll against his home city and first for coach Craig Berube over the team that fired him — the Maple Leafs remain on the sad side of even.
But at this stage, two points is a step. A right-side-up turn.
“Itâ€s no secret how big that one was for our group. Everyone knows whatâ€s going on,†Lorentz said. “Especially with so many guys out, itâ€s definitely a vote of confidence for our group. And thatâ€s why guys are extra happy tonight.â€
McCabe doesnâ€t want the boys to get carried away, though: “Doesnâ€t mean much. I mean, we still got a long way to go here to keep building our identity and building with this group.â€
Yes, even with Mitch Marner long gone and Auston Matthews injured, the Maple Leafs were always going to rely on the most familiar game-breakers to stop the bleeding.
Naturally, the skid ends with John Tavares outbattling a trio of Blues in his 24th minute of ice time, Morgan Rielly swooping in from the back, and Nylander tacking on the exclamation point.
“Heâ€s a beast. John in the corner… and I was just kinda mesmerized watching Will,†Woll said. “Fired me up.â€
Coach Berube made a point to underscore the play that led to Nylanderâ€s clock-stopper, though: “I mentioned it to the team, because that’s what heâ€s all about. And that play there symbolizes John Tavares: 3-on-1, keeps the puck alive. Morgan gets in there quickly and makes a play. And Willy does what he does.”
• More surprise injury news.
Top-line left wing Matthew Knies was ruled out of action about an hour before puck drop and is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
This is a lingering ailment for the power forward.
Knies required a “maintenance†day Friday, but did rally to play Saturday and practise Monday. Things got worse Tuesday.
“Iâ€ve never played against him, so I think itâ€ll be a blast,†said Blues rookie Jimmy Snuggerud, a few hours before puck drop. Sounds like Knies†injury was even caught his ol†University of Minnesota bestie a little off-guard.
“Weâ€re pretty close. We live together in the summer. I saw him last night, so it was nice to kind of hang out with him (at Knies†place).â€
Kniesâ€s emergency replacement, Blais, took some hard contact and left the game coughing up blood.
• Jim Montgomery on how long it takes for a coach to know if his team is simply figuring things out or just doesnâ€t have what it takes: “December 1.â€
• Troy Stecher and Morgan Rielly were both born in the spring of 1994 and grew up on the rinks of Vancouver. Still, the two defencemen — one drafted fifth overall, the other not at all — had never been teammates. Until now.
“What do I remember of him?†Stecher says. “Heâ€s just amazing. I was chasing him around my whole childhood. I was trying to be as good as he was.â€
Stecher was superb in his Leafs debut, tilting the ice in his 13-plus minutes and buzzing with energy.
“It made a difference,†McCabe enthused. “He gave us a little spark on the back end, and he was vocal too. You know, heâ€s not some young guy coming in here.
“I canâ€t speak highly enough about him, because he was excellent tonight.â€
• Whatâ€s going on with Pavel Buchnevich?Â
Twenty games into the richest contract of his life — six years, $48 million — he has just two goals and five assists to go with a minus-11 rating.
The man was a ghost Tuesday: zero shots, one attempt, minus-3, one giveaway, one penalty, and 0-for-1 in the dot against a depleted Leafs squad.
• Tuesday marked St. Louis defenceman Justin Faulkâ€s 1,000th game.
Classy for the Leafs to acknowledge the visiting playerâ€s milestone on the Jumbotron.
“Itâ€s not easy being a D-man going back for the puck in your corner every single night and taking hits and blocking shots and playing physical,†said fellow 1,000 gamer Brayden Schenn. “Weâ€re super pumped for him. Quite the accomplishment.â€
Faulk has earned his silver stick the hard way.
“Pretty rare for someone who plays as physical as he does, someone that plays all situations and is heavy, wins a lot of battles in the corner,†Montgomery said. “So, itâ€s pretty amazing.â€
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