{"id":376537,"date":"2025-12-28T18:10:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T18:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/376537\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T18:10:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T18:10:08","slug":"nylander-a-question-mark-but-toronto-maple-leafs-power-play-improves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/376537\/","title":{"rendered":"Nylander a question mark, but Toronto Maple Leafs’ power play improves"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 William Nylander<\/a> will make the trip to Detroit for the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> outing against the Red Wings on Sunday. But whether the skilled Swede suits up remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

Nylander departed early in the second period of the Maple Leafs 7-5 win against their provincial rival, the Ottawa Senators<\/a>, on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, he\u2019s coming on a trip, so that\u2019s a good sign,\u201d Toronto head coach Craig Berube<\/a> said. \u201cBut lower-body (discomfort) right now. We\u2019ll see how he is tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nylander appeared to take a slash from Ottawa forward Drake Batherson<\/a> at the side of the Senators\u2019 crease late in his third shift of the second period.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what the extent is or what happened,\u201d Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews<\/a> said. \u201cBut obviously he\u2019s a big part of this team and drives a lot of play for us. So obviously we\u2019re hoping for the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

POWER PLAY\u2019S BETTER<\/p>\n

The Maple Leafs entered the game mired in the 32nd spot in power-play efficiency. The offensive struggles with the man-advantage cost assistant coach Marc Savard<\/a> his job last Monday.<\/p>\n

But Toronto feasted on Ottawa\u2019s struggling penalty kill, 31st in the league. Matthews set up Nylander for an early power-play strike 40 seconds in. Later in the opening period, Max Domi<\/a> fed Matthew Knies<\/a> for another and a 2-0 lead.<\/p>\n

Knies wound up with two goals, including the game-winner. Domi had three assists.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was great, especially with both units getting a goal early in the game,\u201d Matthews said. \u201cIt\u2019s such a big part of games, and to get that momentum, to get a goal or two to power play each night, it\u2019s huge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthews broke out of a four-game slump that saw him go pointless. He returned from the three-day Christmas break with his first three-point outing of the season, with a goal and two assists.<\/p>\n

His second-period goal was his 416th career goal, four shy of Mats Sundin<\/a>\u2019s franchise record of 420.<\/p>\n

EMOTIONS RUN HIGH<\/p>\n

The Senators and Maple Leafs are eight months removed from their first-round clash last spring that saw Toronto take the playoff series in six games. The hate, however, remains.<\/p>\n

After a spirited scrum to end the game, Maple Leafs newcomer Troy Stecher<\/a> raised his arms to get the crowd into it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved it,\u201d Domi said. \u201cHe\u2019s honestly one of the most competitive guys anywhere I played with, and he competes every shift. Obviously, a big division win, and he was on the ice, scrumming it up. It\u2019s emotional, so it\u2019s what you want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stecher is with his eighth NHL team, having played in his 18th game for Toronto. He\u2019s made an impact in his latest stop.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe brings a lot of energy every night,\u201d Berube said. \u201cThis guy plays as hard as anybody that I\u2019ve coached. He\u2019s full bore everywhere, and I think it\u2019s rubbing off on our team. I really do believe that. He\u2019s played extremely well for us since we got him.\u201d<\/p>\n

DEBUT OUTING<\/p>\n

Ottawa veteran Claude Giroux<\/a> played in his 1,300th career regular-season game, while 23-year-old Xavier Bourgault made his NHL debut. Bourgault of L\u2019Islet, Que., was a 2021 first-round (22nd overall) pick of the Edmonton Oilers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He played 210 regular-season AHL games with the Bakersfield Condors and Belleville Senators before being promoted Saturday.<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 28, 2025.<\/p>\n

Tim Wharnsby, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 William Nylander will make the trip to Detroit for the Toronto Maple Leafs outing against the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-376537","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}