Nylander accidentally batted the puck into his own net in the opening minutes of the game against St. Louis.
William Nylander got the last laugh, at himself.
One minute and fifty seconds into the Toronto Maple Leafs' game against the St. Louis Blues, Nathan Walker's shot bounced off Joseph Woll and right to Nylander. He took a whack at the puck and accidentally put it into his own net.
"I don't even know what I was thinking," a grinning Nylander said. "But it was nice to find the back of the net early."
Nylander and Woll traded stick taps to each other following the goal. What was said during the exchange?
"I said, 'Sorry.' He said, 'It's all good.' I said, 'Thank you.'"
After that puck went in, a majority of Maple Leafs fans likely had their head in their hands, wondering if Toronto's five-game losing streak would ever end.
Not the Maple Leafs, though.
"It could've been like, 'Oh, f**k, here we go again,' kind of thing. But we stuck with it," said Jake McCabe, who scored Toronto's opening goal of the game.
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After McCabe's goal, Steven Lorentz found the back of the net in the second period off a great pass by Sammy Blais, who was a last-minute addition to the lineup after Matthew Knies missed the game with a lower-body injury.
St. Louis would add another goal, though neither team scored in the third period. That led us to overtime, which could've gone either way.
It didn't seem like a goal was coming from either side until John Tavares and three Blues players were battling in St. Louis' zone. Tavares, exercising his Portuguese soccer roots (and dad strength), stepped on the puck and pulled it out from along the boards no-look to Morgan Rielly, who then found Nylander arriving in the zone.
Nylander — like we've witnessed many times before — sidestepped Dylan Holloway with ease before getting around Jordan Binnington and slotting it home for the overtime winner. It was the forward's ninth goal of the season and 14th straight game with a point.
Tavares, who got the goal started, tallied his 25th point in 25 games with an assist on the overtime-winner.
"That's how we were able to win the game," the Swede said.
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Not only that, it was Toronto's first win since Nov. 5 against the Utah Mammoth, almost two weeks ago.
Woll, who secured his first win since rejoining the Maple Leafs from a personal leave of absence, had a great view of the entire overtime sequence. He was happy Nylander potted one after what happened in the first period.
"He made up for it, so all good. We're all square," said a smiling Woll.
Lorentz, who scored his second of the season, also chimed in: "Second one was a little nicer."
That overtime-winner, though, doesn't happen without Tavares' perseverance in the corner.
"That play there symbolizes John Tavares," Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said.
Lorentz added, "Johnny with a one-on-three battle, after playing heavy minutes tonight. To be able to do that in the extra frame, I think he was double-shifting in OT, too, and the last 10 minutes of the third, so it's just that leadership that he brings. The qualities like that, the second and third efforts against three tough players on their team.
"To be able to win that battle, and obviously, a world-class play by Willy. But that goal was huge for our group. It's a big win for us."
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It was a moment that'll be remembered for quite some time with this version of the Maple Leafs. A team that, going into Tuesday's game, had seven players out with an injury.
"When I look at the team and everything going on with the injuries and everything, it could have been easy for our guys to say, 'Well, we're all banged up. We've got nobody,'" said Berube.
"But I didn't get that at all, and our guys competed really hard tonight. I'm proud of them, the way they competed and stuck together out there for the game."
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