William Nylander had a successful premiere at home in Scotiabank Arena. When the match was over, the 29-year-old had scored a goal and two assists.
We still have a lot to work on, but we saw a lot of good things tonight, says coach Craig Berube according to Aftonbladet.
Already in the first minute, Nylander was present with a hard shot that grazed teammate Bobby McMann's club before the puck hit the net behind Montreal goalkeeper Samuel Montembeault.
Toronto, however, lost momentum after that, and Montreal was able to equalize and take the lead before the next Swede stepped forward for the home team.
Calle Järnkrok pushed in the rebound on Morgan Reilly's long shot between Montembeault's legs to equalize the match to 2–2, 5:40 into the second period. Reilly himself scored the leading goal halfway into the third.
When the clock showed two minutes left, it seemed that the match would end just 3–2. But William Nylander was not finished.
He was responsible for another assist after Auston Matthews deflected his shot from the defensive zone into an empty net, and with 15 seconds left of the match, he finally also got to set the final score 5–2.
Also in tonight's other match, there was a Swedish presence in the goal protocol. Elias Lindholm scored a goal and an assist in Boston's 3–1 win over Washington.
