BOSTON -- William Nylander remains questionable for the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Bruins Bruins at TD Garden on Monday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, NESN, SN, TVAS, CBC) because of an undisclosed injury.
The forward was on the ice for the morning skate Monday after he did not play in a 5-1 loss in the best-of-7 series opener Saturday, when he was a game-time decision. Nylander participated in an optional morning skate Sunday, which was believed to be his first time on the ice since playing 17:29 in the Maple Leafs’ regular-season finale, a 6-4 loss at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday.
"It's great. Good to see him with the group. Looks good out there,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said Monday. ... “We'll see how he feels the rest of the day here and make a decision."
Nylander played all 82 regular-season games for Toronto and finished second on the team in scoring with an NHL career-high 98 points (40 goals, 58 assists), trailing only Auston Matthews (107 points; 69 goals, 38 assists). Nylander finished 10th in the NHL in points.
The healthy members of the Maple Leafs’ four core forwards -- Matthews, Mitch Marner and John Tavares -- were held off the score sheet in Game 1, an indication of how much Nylander was needed.
“He’s a huge part of our team,” forward Ryan Reaves said. “A guy who can put the puck in the net, a guy who can break out the puck by himself. He can carry the play, does a little bit of everything. You need those guys on the ice and especially in the playoffs.
“Yeah, he’s missed. I don’t know what his status is; hopefully he’s ready to go. You want a healthy group for sure.”
Toronto defenseman Jake McCabe said Nylander seemed to be in “great spirits” Sunday.
“Willy does so many great things for us,” McCabe said. “He can create by himself, frankly, seemingly out of nothing plays. He’s a threat all over the ice offensively for us, he kills penalties for us too. He’s a good leader for us in the room. So yeah, in a lot of areas.”
The Maple Leafs have lost eight straight regular- and postseason games to the Bruins, including five in 2023-24. They have lost six consecutive playoff series to Boston, including four since 2013. They have gone eight consecutive playoff games scoring two goals or fewer.
But they believe they can recover.
“We’ve done it all year,” Reaves said. “We’ve had stretches where we couldn’t win a couple games, we bounced back and strung a lot together. We’ve had games where we got absolutely waxed and came back the next day really strong. I’m not worried about the bounce back.”
Keefe emphasized that the Maple Leafs did not have to change their plan or their approach against the Bruins. They just need to execute and stay out of the penalty box after taking six penalties in Game 1.
They need to have short memories.
“The ‘Hakuna Matata’ kind of motto,” Reaves said. “You can’t be worried about what happened in the past. You’ve just got to look forward, and I think that’s what this group’s going to do.”
It’s what Toronto was able to do last season after it lost Game 1 of its first-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning but advanced for the first time since 2004.
“It’s a playoff series,” Keefe said. “You’ve got to be able to bounce back. You’ve got to be able to move on and you make your adjustments and you get back at it. That’s really it. You can’t get too worked up about it. Whether the game finishes the way it did last night or whether we lose the game in overtime, we’re still down 1-0.
“You’ve got to be able to deal with it. We’ve been through this, and we’ve bounced back well. We have an opportunity to do that again tomorrow.”
With or without Nylander.
NHL.com independent correspondent Joe Pohoryles contributed to this report
