Toronto Maple Leafs’ William Nylander, left, and Seattle Kraken’s Will Borgen battle for the puck in Toronto on Oct. 31.Cole Burston/The Canadian Press
In hockey, as in life, actions usually speak louder than words.
After scoring twice in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 4-1 win over the Seattle Kraken on Thursday, William Nylander will be hoping his head coach has his eyes and ears wide open.
The Swedish star had caused something of a stir before the morning skate in this haven of hockey hysteria, telling the assembled media that he wanted more ice time, and that he needed the extra minutes to help him get in a better rhythm. Through the first 10 games of the season, Nylander’s average time on ice is down almost two full minutes from last season’s 19:55, when he was the team’s second-highest scorer with 98 points.
Head coach Craig Berube, hardly one to elevate individual objectives above the team’s goals, said he had no problem with Nylander’s request. However, as he pointed out, the fact that his winger was no longer on the penalty kill was cutting into his overall ice time.
“I don’t focus on ice time so much,” Berube said. “I mean, I get Willy out there quite a bit, a lot of key situations, obviously. But at the same time, I have said this all along, we want to be a good team, everybody needs to be involved.”
Following Thursday’s two-goal outing – his third multigoal game of the season – Berube may have to get his all-star winger even more involved, with Nylander now jointly leading the team in scoring with alongside Mitch Marner with 12 points each.
His second-period salvo helped Toronto win its second successive game – improving to 6-1-0 against the Kraken – and helped banish memories of a frustrating first period, in which the Leafs had produced little of note through the first 19 minutes 50 seconds.
However, hoping to get back to their dressing room with less than 10 seconds remaining in a goalless first period, the Kraken carelessly iced the puck.
The Leafs didn’t need a second invitation.
Auston Matthews beat Chandler Stephenson on the resulting faceoff, slid the puck across the crease to Marner, who hoodwinked Joey Daccord in the Seattle goal by one-timing it back across the doorstep for Matthew Knies to net his sixth goal of the season with 4.7 seconds remaining.
The go-ahead goal was the only positive development for the home side from the opening stanza. The team that had jumped all over previously unbeaten Winnipeg on Monday – scoring the first four goals in a 6-4 victory – struggled to put a scare into the opposition on this Halloween night. Despite outshooting the Kraken 14-12, there was little to raise the pulse of the fans, and the power play continued to plague Berube’s team, with the rejigged first unit unable to break through on its lone opportunity.
The second period brought far greater reward.
Much like the end of the first, cross-ice passes continued to haunt Daccord in the Seattle net. With less than two minutes on the clock, Morgan Rielly took a pass near the boards to the right of the Seattle goal, and threaded the puck through a thicket of bodies to Nylander, who had time to compose himself before depositing the puck into the waiting cage for his seventh of the season.
Just before the midway point of the period, Nylander was at it again. When Daccord failed to hold on to a wrist shot from Max Pacioretty, John Tavares scrambled the puck over to Nylander, who was in exactly the same spot as he was for his first goal, and once again, he didn’t miss.
Eeli Tolvanen broke Joseph Woll’s shutout bid with 3:28 to go, cashing in on a pass from Ryker Evans with Daccord on the bench for an extra skater. But Matthews then took advantage of that empty net, banking the puck off the boards from inside his own half to notch his fifth of the season.
The Leafs offensive outburst also gave Leafs defenceman Chris Tanev bragging rights in his matchup with his brother Brandon, Seattle’s fourth-line winger. While the two have locked horns many times in their careers, this meeting, their first since Chris signed with their hometown Leafs last off-season, was special for the whole Tanev family.
“I think early on in my career, his teams definitely got the better of mine,” Chris Tanev said. “And I think lately it’s sort of changed a little bit.”
The only dour note for Toronto was the power play, which is now 3-for-32 on the season. However, the penalty kill was immaculate, successfully killing off all three of Seattle’s penalties.
After improving to 6-4-1 on the season, the Maple Leafs now head to St. Louis for a rematch on Saturday against Berube’s former team, the Blues. St. Louis won 5-1 in Toronto last week.
