William Nylander's comments after injuring Anthony Stolarz continues trend of avoiding accountability
Photo credit: Marc DesRosiers-IMAGN Images
Head coach Craig Berube watched William Nylander completely derail the Maple Leafs before puck drop.
The intended starting goaltender, Anthony Stolarz, took a friendly-fire puck directly to the throat during warmups.
He was immediately rushed to a local hospital for imaging while his stunned teammates scrambled to adjust.
Nylander offered a rather hollow explanation for the pre-game incident that completely ruined the evening.
«I always come in and shoot a puck in the glove, and this one just came off a little bit to the left,»
He claimed to be worried but casually noted he was texting with the injured goalie and he seemed fine.
The aloof winger even defended his routine, bluntly stating he has certain spots where he shoots all the time.
A Baffling Lack of Accountability for William Nylander
That does not excuse the fact that a surprised Joseph Woll was forced into emergency duty.
Woll had not played both halves of a back-to-back since his minor league days with the Marlies in March 2021.
Toronto then proceeded to completely abandon their tired netminder in a miserable 5-2 blowout loss to the Ottawa Senators.
The Maple Leafs were badly outshot by a resounding 43-14 margin against a bitter provincial rival.
They gave up 44 scoring chances and generated just 18 of their own.
That is not crisp passing or solid execution.
When asked about the lopsided effort, Nylander complained about spending far too much time trapped in the defensive zone.
"If we spend some more time in the O-zone, we can relieve some of that pressure on Joe tonight,"
That is a staggering lack of self-awareness from a guy who just injured his own goaltender.
You cannot just float around the perimeter and wait for the transition game to magically appear.
Over his NHL career, Nylander has frequently faced tough questions about his overall commitment to a 200-foot game.
With 29 regulation losses officially on the books, Toronto is just playing out the string.
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Previously on House Of Hockey
| POLL | ||
MARS 22|220 ANSWERS William Nylander's comments after injuring Anthony Stolarz continues trend of avoiding accountability Is William Nylander taking enough accountability for his mistakes ? | ||
| Yes | 37 | 16.8 % |
| No | 183 | 83.2 % |
| List of polls | ||