Nylander's head collided with Canadiens defenseman Christian Dvorak's leg and the player was kept out of the game for "precautionary" reasons.
Nylander's head collided with Canadiens defenseman Christian Dvorak's leg and the player was kept out of the game for "precautionary" reasons.
William Nylander left the Toronto Maple Leafs' pre-season game in the first period of their pre-season game with the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday after an incident that saw the player collide head-first into the leg of Montreal defenseman Christian Dvorak.
Maple Leafs teammate Nick Robertson attempted a push-off to Nylander, who fell. During the fall, Nylander's head appeared to make contact with the leg Dvorak and immediately went to the locker room for evaluation.
"It's unfortunate, I was trying to give him a little boost there and it is what it is," Robertson said after his team's 2-1 win on Thursday. "I talked to him and he's doing good, we'll see how he is for the next few days."
The Leafs announced that Nylander would not play for the remainder of the game due to precautionary reasons.
"He'll be okay, he's fine, nothing to worry about," Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said of Nylander.
Nylander had opened the pre-season in the center position for the second year in a row. He was occupying that role on a line with Robertson and Bobby McMann before the incident occurred. The early departure followed Auston Matthews' upper-body ailment sustained during Tuesday's practice. Winger Calle Jarnkrok is also out day-to-day with a lower body injury.
Nylander had a goal and an assist in his pre-season debut, a 6-5 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators on Sunday.
The first period of the game also saw John Tavares take an awkward hit from Canadiens forward Michael Pezzetta. Tavares stayed in the game despite being slow to the bench but was limited to just two shifts in the third period.
"My leg was getting pretty stiff from the hit I took there in the first. It wasn't so bad afterwards but kind of throughout the second and especially in the third it just got really, really stiff and I didn't have much," Tavares explained. I told Craig I was just going to keep him short, but I think he just determined to give me the rest of the night off.
Maple Leafs defenseman Chris Tanev took a shot off the hand and the broadcast showed him flexing the hand on the bench after the incident. Both Tavares and Tanev remained in the game.
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