Keefe calls out William Nylander for John Tavares' recent even-strength scoring struggles
William Nylander's struggles have not gone unnoticed and Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe believes it goes hand-in-hand with John Tavares' dry-spell at 5v5.
The captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs has one 5-on-5 goal since the beginning of March, which is a stretch of 14 games. Nylander and Tavares have been linemates for much of the season, so it's not a surprise to see both players struggling while one is having a tough time.
On Sunday, ahead of the Leafs' game against the Detroit Red Wings, Keefe mentioned what makes Tavares successful and what he needs to see from Nylander as well in order to get Tavares rolling once again:
"He's a guy who generates a lot of his chances (from) the middle of the ice... any time you're a a player like that you're relying on your wingers to make a lot of that happen. So I correlate it a lot to the fact that [Nylander]'s game has not been at the same level."
Keefe did give credit where credit is due, pointing to his team playing the right way, and Tavares specifically, applauding him for not deviating from the plan and committing to playing a solid two-way game and displaying good composure and not cheating on offense.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 2 | 156 ANSWERS Keefe calls out William Nylander for John Tavares' recent even-strength scoring struggles Is Nylander the reason why for Tavares' recent struggles at 5v5? | ||
| Yes | 56 | 35.9 % |
| No | 100 | 64.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
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