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Is there any way for the Maple Leafs to schedule playoff games in Stockholm, too?
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They seem to soar in Scandinavia and certainly get another gear from William Nylander in what’s already been a “fantastisk” start to his season.
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The player of the game in Friday’s win over Detroit with three points added an assist and a 4-3 overtime winner Sunday against the Minnesota Wild, again with a smorgasbord of relatives on hand at Avicii Arena. He extended a franchise-record points streak to open a season to 17 games.
“It was pretty special, for sure, to get that winner, but it was a great four points here and hopefully we bring that home,” Nylander told the travelling media.
“We started feeling our game back in Toronto (two wins before departing). It’s been a blast, I love being here and hopefully we can do it again sometime.”
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The week at home was also a big ‘W’ for Nylander as a contract extension candidate, an NHL Global Series ambassador and a team tour guide. The five points kept him in the league’s top five in scoring.
“I think it’s about as good as it gets for him,” teammate Morgan Rielly said in praise of Nylander. “I know he had some downtime with his family here, but he was also doing his job and kind of taking it to the next level, promoting our game and the team.
“Hats off to him for both his play and his execution off the ice.”
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After the late Leafs legend Borje Salming’s son Anders dropped the puck before Friday’s win, franchise leading scorer Mats Sundin did the honours on Sunday during a game that featured an 8 a.m. ET start.
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Before extending their record to 7-0-0 when leading after two periods, the Leafs nearly handed it back to the Wild. Rielly had snapped them into a 3-1 lead at 3:22, but Jake Middleton and Mats Zuccarello tied it with strikes 2:32 apart.
In an overtime period that underlined some of their disoriented play on this trip, all three Leafs on the ice congregated in the same corner, allowing Joel Eriksson Ek a clear path to Joseph Woll. But Woll stopped that among the 33 pucks that came his way and a Rielly blocked shot on Marcus Johansson sent Nylander the other way to beat Marc-Andre Fleury with a dandy deke.
William’s father Michael was in the audience again to celebrate and Friday was his grandmother’s first chance ever to see him play live.
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“This was a very cool experience for all the Swedes, in front of their families in an NHL game,” Marner said. “We had a good week. We enjoyed the city and they treated us well and we got to let loose with the fellas.”
Marner and Auston Matthews had the assists on Rielly’s goal, Matthews tying Bob Pulford for ninth in franchise scoring with his 563rd point, while an earlier helper by Marner on one by Matthew Knies made him the fastest Leaf to 400 assists at 524 games.
Matthews, with his first goal in four games to regain a piece of the league lead, had answered Jon Merrill’s 2:37 into the match.
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Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe promised a better start than Friday’s early trepidation against Detroit, given his team was now used to the time change, nuances of Avicii Arena and, like Friday, played a foe on a back to back.
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But they gave up an early goal against the grinding Wild. It was Minnesota’s league-worst penalty kill providing the Leafs two opportunities in the period, the second cashed by Matthews after Nylander’s initial shot was deflected to ruffle the veteran Fleury.
“It was one of those trips where you really come together as a team,” Matthews said. “We’re about ready for a couple of days away from each other now (after the plane ride home comes a couple of days off), but we got to experience a new country, a different culture in a city like Stockholm.
“I definitely won’t forget the sun going down every day at 3 p.m., but it’s been a lot of fun.”
The Leafs will reconvene on the ice mid-week and head to back-to-back U.S. Thanksgiving road games against Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks, then old boss Kyle Dubas’s Pittsburgh Penguins.
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NOT QUITE A CLEAN ESCAPE
Warhorse defenceman Mark Giordano, who’d overskated an empty net crossbar rebound from John Tavares, was the catalyst on the Knies goal, which caught Fleury’s five-hole coming across the crease.
However, the Leafs couldn’t pull away in the second, far too busy killing three penalties, including one when a fed-up Marner whacked Eriksson Ek in retaliation for getting mugged in front of Fleury.
And while they looked sharp doing so, they were not winning many 5-on-5 battles in their end in the second period, allowing Kirill Kaprizov a free look. Woll stayed right with the star winger with a stretched pad save.
BACK TO MATS
It had to be a weird and wonderful feeling for Giordano watching Leaf great Sundin drop the puck. In Giordano’s first game in his hometown of Toronto as a Calgary Flame on Oct. 14, 2006, he scored twice and was having a dream night. Until Sundin fired a hat trick, including the overtime winner short-handed, for his 500th NHL goal.
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The Wild were low in the Central Division before the game and now have just two regulation wins against Toronto in the past 11 meetings.
NEW BLUE CREW?
The Leaf roster could have a different look next week. Defenceman Conor Timmins will likely be activated, perhaps taking John Klingberg’s place on the roster as Klingberg has now gone more than a week without playing because of an undisclosed lower-body injury.
Bobby McMann has now played three games on the fourth line and is in good stead, as is third-liner Nick Robertson, but before Sunday night, Alex Steeves had 15 points through 10 consecutive games for the Marlies and newcomer forward Dmitry Ovchinnikov had five goals in his past three.
LOOSE LEAFS
Nylander’s 17-game streak tied him with Connor McDavid as the only active NHLer off to such a hot start. The retired Dave Andreychuk and Henrik Zetterberg also got as high as 17 … Matthews said after the game he’d like to see the Global Series tried in Mexico City. That’s indeed on the short list for the NHL, said its chief content officer Steve Mayer on a pre-season ESPN podcast. While Matthews’ mother is Mexican and the appeal would be obvious to include Toronto, the Dallas Stars have long been the favourite to be involved in such a venture, given they claim to have one million registered Hispanic fans … Keefe’s 10th win of the year and 176th of his career ties him on the all-time NHL list with Leaf pro scout Tom Watt.
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2023-11-20 00:56:15Z
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