Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander was blunt in his assessment of the team’s latest Game 7 loss.
It was a night to forget for everyone on the roster, with an anemic performance that couldn’t have come at a worse time, given what was at stake. The Florida Panthers dominated on the scoresheet and gave the Leafs no chance at maintaining any momentum while cruising their way back to the Eastern Conference Finals.
“It was a sh*tty game. That’s about it,” Nylander said to reporters at the end of the season media presser.
While it would be easy to assume that the pressure got to the Leafs in Sunday’s defeat, there is certainly more to it than that. It was clear the Panthers wanted to leave no doubts they were going to be moving on to the next round and it resulted in them raising their intensity levels.
From Nylander’s perspective, the Leafs didn’t do a good enough job matching it or surpassing what Florida was throwing their way.
“ I don’t think it was reverting back to the way we played in the past,” he said. “I think it was just letting one go in and then not coming back up to the level we needed to play. They were able to get a couple of goals in those moments. I think that’s one of the things we need to get better at and execute.”
Nylander certainly had his chances throughout the series to put his team in control of the games with plenty of breakaway chances and prime looks. But after getting points in each of the first three games of the second round, he went scoreless through the final four games, which was a far cry from the heights he experienced in the first round offensively speaking.
He felt that he and his teammates had plenty of good opportunities but needed to be better at cashing in on them.
“ I thought I started good, and I think past four even, I wasn’t producing,” he said. “ I still had chances to be able to score and needed to help the team by scoring. But I think the chances were there, we battled back, and we got a team that broke through back to Game 7.”
Now that the dust has settled on the latest drumming, the Leafs face an uncertain future with so many questions surrounding the core of the team. Nylander spoke highly of Mitch Marner and John Tavares, whom are both on expiring contracts, and hoped to see them back next season. He also gave his props to the leadership of Auston Matthews and how he grew into his role as captain throughout the campaign.
While he can’t force his teammates who need new deals to stick around, Nylander does know that being a member of the Leafs has been an honour and a privilege.
“I mean just playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs , it’s been a dream,” he said. “I think every kid wishes that they could play for an organization like this. I mean, the team, the organization, everybody here just made it a home for me. That’s why I love being here every day and battling it out for the Maple Leafs.”
