BOSTON -- William Nylander did not play for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 5-1 loss to the Boston Bruins in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round at TD Garden on Saturday because of an undisclosed injury.
Nylander played all 82 regular-season games but missed practice Friday and then the optional morning skate Saturday. He was second on Toronto and 10th in the NHL this season with a career-high 98 points (40 goals, 58 assists).
Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said Nylander's status isn't the takeaway from the game, though.
“He had nothing to do with us taking too many penalties or giving up a 2-on-1 (rush),” Keefe said. “Obviously, the power play, he makes an impact there, but like I said, we’ve handled that situation very well all season. Some of our best games have been when [our] best people are out. It’s tough to go into a playoff without him, but [it’s] not the storyline here for us tonight.”
On top of taking too many penalties -- the Bruins were 2-for-5 on the power play -- the Maple Leafs didn't get any production from their top three forward lines. David Kampf scored the lone goal at 1:39 of the third period, finishing off a play set up by Connor Dewar and Ryan Reaves.
Auston Matthews, who led the League with 69 goals this season, had a chance to tie it 1-1 at 4:30 of the second period, but after beating goalie Jeremy Swayman, who had come out of his crease, to a loose puck, he rang his shot at the empty net off the left post.
Brandon Carlo then made it 2-0 at 5:47 before Jake DeBrusk scored twice on the power play to extend the lead to 4-0 entering the third period.
“[Nylander’s] obviously a great player and a big part of our team,” Matthews said. “We’ve been in situations where we had key players out throughout the season, so it’s just about other guys getting opportunities and stepping up and making the most of it.”
The Maple Leafs will need that to happen in case Nylander isn't able to play in Game 2 here on Monday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, NESN, SN, TVAS, CBC).
“[Nylander] does a lot of things for us out there,” Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner said. “Even strength, power play-wise, so he creates a lot of offense as well with his skill and speed through the neutral zone, and really just from picking up pucks in the [defensive] zone. ... We’ve had some really big names go out and we’ve had a lot of guys step up. Unfortunately, tonight wasn’t one of those nights, but we have to regroup tonight, recover tomorrow, see what we can do better and get ready for Game 2."
