New York. William Nylander is the Swedish goal king in the NHL.
He was responsible for the 19th complete strike of the season when Toronto demoted rival Tampa last night, thus moving away from the top of the blue-and-yellow shooting league.
– All our guys were good tonight and helped us achieve an important victory, said coach Sheldon Keefe after the 4-1 victory.
“The goal is to get better every year,” Lil’ Nelt has answered several times when asked about his personal ambitions, and he’s actually meeting that goal even this season.
The 26-year-old Swede-Canadian is night after night the Maple Leafs’ MVP and first-time goalscorer like no other.
In the fancier game against Tampa last night – a repeat of one of the spring’s great playoff battles – he first made the standout play for Michael Ponting’s 1-0 goal and then himself scored the 19th goal of the season into an empty net at the end of the season.
Thus, he leads the Toronto indoor shooting league by two goals — and the Swede by four.
But the main thing for both William and all the other blue and white papers last night was that they managed to beat the challenger from West Florida.
“It was a big, important game and all of our players did well and helped us achieve victory,” said coach Sheldon Cave.
Pierre Engvall also put the puck into an empty basket, while Kale Jarnkreuk – back after injury – and Rasmus Sanden provided an assist each.
However, the latter had to cancel the match due to a neck injury.
– We took Rasmus as a precaution, I don’t think it’s that serious, but he will be examined more thoroughly on Wednesday, says Keefe.
Another big game was set in Pittsburgh between the Penguins and Rangers – who together put together a long winning streak at last.
Rangers got off to the best start, taking an early lead and looking to defend that lead for a long time by cutting off the opposition’s oxygen supply.
But at the end of the second half, the hosts broke the deadlock and turned around – in the end they won 3-2.
– We have great respect for Rangers. They’re a good team, we’ve had a lot of very close matches against them in recent years and it’s usually always about a goal which is happening now too. A good individual effort is identified, says Penguins coach Mike Sullivan.
Ricard Raquel was credited with the help.
A lot was at stake, to say the least, in Raleigh as well, as the Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey went head-to-head for first place in the Metropolitan Division. And the demons, who suddenly got a headwind, were forced to part with it. Canes won 4-1 and thus claimed their sixth consecutive victory.
– But our goalkeeper Pyotr Kochetkov stole this match. We weren’t good at the time when the Devils were,” says Carolina coach Rod Brind Amore.
Jesper Fast has one assist for the winners and Jesper Pratt one for the losers.
An all-Swedish goal kicked off the night’s action in Winnipeg, as the powerful Jets went up against the Ottawa Senators. Kevin Stenlund scored his first goal for the new club – his compatriots David Gustafsson and Axel Johnson-Filby were responsible for the preparatory work.
The latter was also involved in the 5-1 goal that nearly decided the final score for Kyle Connor.
In the Jumbo Final in Philadelphia, the Flyers were able to beat Columbus 5-3.
Gustav Nyquist helped achieve one of the Visitors’ goals.