William Nylander closing in on longstanding Mats Sundin record
After last night's overtime goal, Toronto Maple Leafs captain John Tavares continues to climb the charts for most regular season overtime goals scored in franchise history. The $11M man now has 6, which puts him in a tie with Wendel Clark and Steve Thomas for 4th place.
William Nylander, the orchestrator of the overtime winner against the Tampa Bay Lightning, looked to have potentially earned himself the winner when it deflected off a Lightning stick and into the net but upon further review Tavares got the final touch. Had Nylander been awarded the goal, it would have put him in sole possession of 2nd place and only 4 away from the Swedish icon and Maple Leafs legend, Mats Sundin.
Nylander is currently tied with Auston Matthews for 2nd place with 9 overtime goals, behind him is Tomas Kaberle with 7, and then you have Clark, Thomas and Tavares each having 6. Sundin currently sits atop the totem pole with a whopping 14 OT goals, so the current generation of players have some work to do as they look to overtake the record.
With how the overtime period has changed since the NHL adopted 3-on-3 play back in 2015-16, it's no surprise to see players from the current generation rapidly climbing the ranks. With 2 less players on the ice than we saw during the Sundin era, it means more touches for star players. Sundin's 14 goals are even more impressive when you consider the old overtime rules.
Nevertheless, Nylander is now just 5 goals back of Sundin and it makes you wonder if he can get to that illustrious first place pedestal before the season ends with his contract expiring. If he doesn't return next season, which seems highly unlikely at this point, then it will be up to Auston Matthews to dethrone Sundin. However, if/when Nylander does sign, he may very well be the favourite to best Sundin's record, which is wild to say since he shares a team with arguably the top active goal scorer in the league.
| POLL | ||
OCTOBRE 22 | 257 ANSWERS William Nylander closing in on longstanding Mats Sundin record Who gets to Sundin's OT goals record first? | ||
| Nylander | 102 | 39.7 % |
| Matthews | 121 | 47.1 % |
| Other | 34 | 13.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
