William Nylander brushes off his lack of production, focusing on team success over individual stats
During last year's playoffs, Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner failed to produce at a rate that was reflective of their skill level, which ultimately led to another early exit for the Buds and a lot of criticism for the Leafs' young core - Marner especially.
The team relied on their 2nd and 4th lines to handle much of the offense last year, with Alexander Kerfoot, Jason Spezza and William Nylander picking up the slack for the Matthews, Marner, Hyman line. This year, however, it's Nylander who has failed to produce.
Nylander has not recorded a single point thus far in the series after notching a career high 34 goals and 80 points in 81 games this season. All signs were pointing towards Nylander and John Tavares being the Leafs' secondary threats behind Matthews and Marner, but instead, the Nylander/Tavares duo has 1 lone point - a Tavares assist - through 3 games.
Nylander is trying to avoid sweating the little things, instead turning his focus on the fact that the individual stats don't matter as long as your team is doing what it can to find a way to win.
-Nylander on having no points through 3 games against the Bolts
Game 4 is set to kick off on Sunday evening and if there ever was a time for Nylander to go off and notch a couple of points, this would be the time. The Leafs currently hold a 2-1 series lead, and if they can use this opportunity to jump out to a 3-1 series lead, they'll have three chances to redeem themselves for last year's brutal round one collapse against the Canadiens.
| POLL | ||
8 MAI | 260 ANSWERS William Nylander brushes off his lack of production, focusing on team success over individual stats Will William Nylander score against the Lightning on Sunday? | ||
| Yes | 189 | 72.7 % |
| No | 45 | 17.3 % |
| He'll score two or more | 26 | 10 % |
| List of polls | ||
