Gustav Forsling says Panthers need to shut William Nylander down as much as possible

Much has been said about the Toronto Maple Leafs Core Four and their playoff performances (or lack thereof), but William Nylander has always had a pretty good case for doing his part.

In past Leafs playoff runs, specifically the ones that ended early, Nylander was always there to chip in even if the rest of the team floundered. He scored the tying goal in Game 5 of the second round two years ago, and scored the opening goal in Game 7 before the Boston Bruins answered minutes later and the team ultimately lost in overtime to lose the series. It might not be much, but it’s honest work, and his 26 goals and 56 points in 62 career playoff games show that he’s not shaken by the moment.

With six goals and 13 points in eight playoff games for Nylander, this playoff run is no different for him, the only difference is that they’re actually making a decent run. With three goals in two games against the Florida Panthers so far, the defending Cup champions are well aware of what they need to do to shut down the Leafs, and a big part of it is silencing Nylander.

“He’s been great, he’s obviously super skilled, good with the puck,” Panthers defenceman Gustav Forsling told media ahead of Game 3. “We want to shut him down as much as possible, and take time and space away from him.”

Two of Nylander’s three goals happened while he was face-to-face with Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. Give him that much space, enough to make a couple of moves, and it’s going to burn you more often than not.

“Just leave him alone,” Berube said of Nylander following Game 2. “Nothing gets to him. He doesn’t feel pressure, and I could be wrong, but this is what I see. There’s no too big a stage for this guy; he thrives on this stuff, in my opinion, he looks forward to it, and he wants to be in on those critical situations. When he smells something, he’s there. That goal is as high-end as it can get, in my opinion, with hands.”

With the Maple Leafs up 2-0 in the series and set to return home with a chance to go to the Conference Final if they can win one of their next two games, they sit in the driver’s seat against the Panthers. But this Panthers team has shown time and time again that they don’t just deal well with adversity, they feed on it, and nothing is safe until the final buzzer.

“We’re excited for the challenge,” Forsling said. “Coming back home in front of all our fans, we’re really excited to get going tonight and get back to our game.”