Sheldon Keefe blown away by William Nylander's newfound mean streak
Midway through the second period, William Nylander was on a partial break in the Columbus zone. He wound up for a slapshot but ended up fanning on it, missing the net completely. Seconds after, he was given a heavy jolt by Blue Jackets' defenseman Nick Blankenburg into the end boards. Nylander was not a fan of the late hit and turned around and nailed Blankenburg in the face with either his elbow or the butt-end of his stick.
Initially, because Blankenburg flopped around like a fish, Nylander was assessed a 5-minute major. Thankfully, officials reviewed it, resulting in Nylander only getting a 2-minute roughing penalty.
Following the game, Sheldon Keefe, who was not pleased with his team's efforts, complimented Nylander on standing up for himself. "When's the last time you saw William Nylander retaliate or something like that? I kind of like it, to be honest. You know, they want to take runs at him every now & again, he's going to make the other team aware of it."
The Leafs' toughness is often questioned, and Nylander's actions last night showed that the Leafs can stand up for themselves. Nylander's reasoning for what he did was quite simple.
"I shot the puck & then a couple seconds later he tried to hit me. So, I just felt pissed off I didn't think he had to hit me there."
It was nice to see Nylander get involved in the game physically and it would be great if we saw it a little bit more - especially leading up to the playoffs.
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