HIGHLIGHTS
- William Nylander spoke on the Maple Leafs’ playoff exit
- The Swede wasn’t happy with his team’s performance in Game 7
- Read below to find out what he said
The Toronto Maple Leafs suffered another disappointing playoff exit on Sunday, getting blown out 6-1 by the Florida Panthers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Tuesday was exit interview time for the Leafs, and superstar William Nylander, who struggled immensely in the latter stages of the Panthers series, gave his honest take on their brutal defeat on home ice.
Via Leafs Nation:
“It was a sh*tty game. That’s about it,” Nylander said to reporters.
Florida scored four unanswered at one point, and Nylander criticized the Maple Leafs for not responding:
“I don’t think it was reverting back to the way we played in the past,” he said. “I think it was just letting one go in and then not coming back up to the level we needed to play. They were able to get a couple of goals in those moments. I think that’s one of the things we need to get better at and execute.”
Nylander, Auston Matthews, and Mitch Marner didn’t produce when they needed to in the series. The Swede took the blame for his part after failing to register a single point in Games 4 through 7:
“I thought I started good, and I think past four even, I wasn’t producing,” he said. “ I still had chances to be able to score and needed to help the team by scoring. But I think the chances were there, we battled back, and we got a team that broke through back to Game 7.”
Some major changes could be coming to the Maple Leafs roster next season. While Matthews and Nylander will remain as part of the core, Marner and John Tavares are both heading into free agency.
This current recipe for success isn’t working for Toronto. Perhaps they need to shake things up, because the Atlantic Division winners shouldn’t be losing in the second round, especially after blowing a 2-0 lead against the Cats and dropping two games by 6-1 scorelines at home.
