Around the League: Nylander Leads with Words and Actions to Guide Leafs to Another Game Seven
As always seems to be the case this time of year, there’s drama in the air around the Toronto Maple Leafs.
May 2, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander (88) celebrates after scoring a goal past Boston Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman (1) in the second period in game six of the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena © Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
If you’re head’s been buried in the sand and you haven’t managed to stay abreast of it all, the peak of the drama set in on the Maple Leafs bench as the clock ticked down toward a Game 4 defeat that would leave Toronto down 3-1 in their first round series to Boston. The below clip from Sportsnet circulated, and intrepid online lip-readers deduced something along the lines of “Stop f—ing crying. This isn’t junior hockey,” said by Nylander, presumably to Mitch Marner.
“We expect a lot from each other,” explained Nylander of the incident after the game. “We love each other, so we just push each other to have a high ceiling, I think it’s great.”
His message was the exact one his team and his fan base (much more than just Marner) needed to hear. To win the Stanley Cup is catastrophically difficult (which you would think is clear to Leafs fans by now). There is no room for complaining about officiating, the difficulty of an opponent, or the tyranny of small sample sizes. If you want the Cup, there is one option: Win 16 games after the regular season ends.
The Leafs managed an improbable Game 5 victory in Boston with Auston Matthews out of the lineup, then in Game 6 last night in Toronto, it was none other than Nylander who carried Toronto to victory with two goals, including a brilliant effort to put the Maple Leafs up 2-0 with just over two minutes to play. It was quintessential Nylander—poised, confident, smooth as he tucked the puck between the legs of Jeremy Swayman.
In a market defined by its mania, Nylander is unflappably cool, as if immune to the seismic pressure the league’s largest fan base throws at its beloved Maple Leafs. For better or worse, the reward for Nylander’s effort was what his fan base fears most: another Game 7 in Boston, the site of all the organization’s greatest and most recent postseason pain. Nylander himself—perpetually immune to this sort of baggage—joked about that history after the game last night:
On the most recent episode of The Silky Mitte State, my co-host Connor Earegood and I discussed some of the particulars of the latest bout of mania, breaking down the bench argument from Game 4. For full episodes of the show, check out Spotify or Apple Podcasts:
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