William Nylander out vs Lightning, forcing some last minute lineup changes
A bit of an update coming from Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay, Florida, as the Leafs could be preparing to take on the Lightning on the road without forward William Nylander in the lineup.
Nylander had missed Leafs practice on Sunday with what head coach Sheldon Keefe called an illness, though he did have a shot block take a bite out of him on Saturday night against the Philadelphia Flyers that seemed to bother him a bit.
On Monday morning, the reports from the Leafs had Nylander as a game-time decision, but according to Sportsnet's Luke Fox, Nylander did not take to the ice for warmups ahead of Monday's tilt with the two-time defending Stanley Cup champs.
Nylander, 25, has already posted a career-high 64 points this season, with over a dozen games remaining for the Buds. The Calgary-born Swede is also just 5 goals away from tying a career high 31 goals, 6 from reaching a new personal best.
With Nylander on the sidelines, it is expected that Alexander Kerfoot will play the right side with John Tavares and Ilya Mikheyev. Rookie forward Nick Abruzzese took line rushes on Sunday no the Leafs' third line, so he could be in line for some additional ice time and responsibility tonight. Kyle Clifford draws in on the 4th line with Colin Blackwell and Wayne Simmonds.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 4 | 318 ANSWERS William Nylander out vs Lightning, forcing some last minute lineup changes How will the Leafs do against the Florida teams in Monday/Tuesday back-to-back? | ||
| 2-0-0 | 173 | 54.4 % |
| 1-1-0 | 97 | 30.5 % |
| 0-2-0 | 24 | 7.5 % |
| Other | 24 | 7.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
