Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe has seen enough.
Or, when it comes to the recent play of William Nylander, not nearly enough.
The talented forward has gone three games without a point, during which his engagement has dropped off. It’s only the second time in 2022-23 that Nylander has produced zeroes on offence in three consecutive games.
Keefe has been down this road before with Nylander, where the player has required a verbal kick in the butt to get back on track. It appeared that Nylander had worked these sorts of lapses out of his game, but apparently, he’s not all the way there yet.
“He and I have talked about this,” Keefe said on Monday before the team departed for New York, where a game against the Islanders on Tuesday is the start to a four-game trip. “I just find when the puck is hitting his stick, his feet aren’t moving to the same degree on attacking. There’s a lot more perimeter, a lot more getting rid of the puck.
“I want him to hang on to it. I want him to challenge. I want him to be on the attack. I want to see lots of pace from him. That’s when he’s at his best. Get back to doing that. It’s been too long since we’ve seen that consistently from him. But as we’ve seen through most of the season, it’s certainly there.”
Nylander remains in second in Leafs scoring with 79 points in 69 games and has set a career-high with 35 goals. One more point will equal his career high. That makes his latest swoon a little more puzzling.
Keefe is keeping Nylander on a line with Sam Lafferty at centre and Bobby McMann on the left, a trio that worked together on Saturday in Ottawa against the Senators in the Leafs’ 5-4 shootout win.
“Playing him more with guys who are going to skate and move their feet, he can be the guy that really drives things,” Keefe said. “That’s really the idea and it’s nothing much beyond that.”
Keefe kept Alex Kerfoot and Calle Jarnkrok on Auston Matthews’ wings, and also maintained the line of John Tavares between Michael Bunting and Mitch Marner.
The fourth line saw a reunion of David Kampf between Zach Aston-Reese and Noel Acciari. The latter returned after not playing in Ottawa.
ACCIARI IN ACTION
If Acciari is holding any hard feelings toward Carolina Hurricanes forward Jesse Puljujarvi, there was no evidence of that on Monday.
Acciari resumed practising and planned to play in New York after he had to leave the game on Friday following a collision with Puljujarvi in the first period.
“I watched it a couple of times,” Acciari said. “He was trying to hold the line, I was trying to backcheck and he caught me off-guard when he put his hands up. That’s all.
“It’s a hockey play and just have to get past it. It wasn’t anything major. I’m ready to get back out there.”
Acciari missed the game against Ottawa for precautionary reasons.
“Just didn’t feel right,” Acciari said. “The training staff, doctors, coaching staff, everyone was good about it. We just wanted to make sure that I felt the best I can and taking those extra couple of days definitely helped.”
FINGERS CROSSED
Can one shootout goal bring some confidence to Alex Kerfoot? “Hopefully, yeah,” Kerfoot said. “It’s nice to see one hit the back of the net. Haven’t seen one hit the back of the net in a while. Hopefully, that’ll be a sign of things to come.”
When Kerfoot slipped the puck between the legs of Sens goalie Mads Sogaard on Saturday, the Leafs forward ended the nine-round shootout in Toronto’s favour.
Kerfoot has not scored in 24 games, with his previous goal coming on Jan. 17 against Florida. Despite playing in all of the Leafs’ 69 games, Kerfoot has just seven goals.
LOOSE LEAFS
Forward Nick Robertson was back on the ice on Monday as his long recovery from shoulder surgery, which was done in January, continues. The 21-year-old winger, who was hurt in a game on Dec. 8, did some light skating as his teammates practised on a different pad at the Ford Performance Centre. When the surgery was announced, the Leafs said it was season-ending … With Ilya Samsonov soon to be a dad, Keefe indicated that Lafferty also is expecting a baby soon … The Toronto Marlies signed defenceman Jonny Tychonick to a two-year American Hockey League contract through the 2023-24 season. The 23-year-old Tychonick, a native of Calgary, had 26 points in 35 games this season for the University of Nebraska-Omaha. He originally was drafted by Ottawa in the second round of the 2018 NHL draft.
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