William Nylander has missed 17 of the Toronto Maple Leafs' games this season due to injuries. But he won't miss any of Sweden's high-stakes games from now on at the Olympics if he can help it.
MILAN, Italy - If Toronto Maple Leafs star William Nylander is playing through an injury at these Olympics, then he's been doing a pretty good job of hiding it.
In a 5-2 win against Italy on Wednesday, the Swedish right winger scored the game-winning goal on a pass from Rasmus Dahlin. Two days later, Nylander returned the favor and set up Dahlin for Sweden's only goal in a rough-and-rowdy 4-1 loss to Finland.
In the process, he has put to rest — for now, at least — the idea that he should head back to Toronto and rest up for the final stretch of the regular season rather than try and win a gold medal.
"Good. I feel good," said Nylander. "I'm just managing. But I'm feeling good. It's just to make sure it stays that way."
For Nylander, who has been battling one thing or another for most of the season, therein lies the challenge. He hasn't been able to stay healthy. Not consistently, at least.
Nylander missed two games in October and two more games in November. After sustaining a groin injury in a game against the Ottawa Senators on Dec. 27, he was out of the lineup for another six games. Upon returning, he played in four games but then got hurt again in a game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Jan. 15, which knocked him out for seven more games.
Heading into the Olympics, Nylander had played in Toronto's final three games, scoring a goal and four points. But after he skipped practice earlier this week with what the Sweden coaching staff called a maintenance day, there were concerns that whatever had been nagging Nylander in North America was still bothering him in Milan.
"I would tell him to get his a-- home, sorry. It's over," TSN's Jeff O'Neill told Overdrive radio listeners on Wednesday. "If there was kind of any question, I would just say, 'You're done.' "
O'Neill has a point.
Nylander has already missed 17 of 57 games this season. And yet, he still leads the Leafs with 52 points. Had Nylander been healthy all year long, which he had done in each of the previous four seasons, the Leafs might be in a playoff spot.
Instead, Toronto is six points back of the Boston Bruins for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, with 25 games remaining. And if the Leafs are going to climb back into a playoff spot, then Nylander will need to play in as many games as possible.
For now, however, Nylander's attention is on the Olympics and on trying to win a gold medal for Sweden. Like his role with the Leafs, Nylander also needs to be one of Sweden's top offensive players if the country hopes to win its first gold medal in hockey since 2006.
Against Finland Thursday, he partly rose to the challenge. But while Nylander had two shots and set up Dahlin for a goal ("I was able to find him, and he lasered it in the corner," he said), it wasn't nearly enough as goalie Juuse Saros made 34 saves for the win.
"I thought we were able to generate chances to be able to score," said Nylander. "Their goalie played well. That was a tough loss for us."
With a 1-1 record after two games, Sweden will need to beat Slovakia in regulation on Saturday and satisfy any tiebreaking criteria if they hope to finish first in Group B. In other words, there's no chance he's missing it.
"It's a must win game, right? It's pretty important," said Nylander. "You learn a lot from today's game. You just want to regroup, and the next game is in 24 hours."
When asked if the Olympic experience is what he thought it would be, Nylander smiled.
"I don't know what I imagined it to be," he said, "but it's pretty awesome."
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