Having William Nylander play up on the top line with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner worked well against the Buffalo Sabres that they are sticking with it for the time being. DALLAS — There was a lot of excitement about seeing what they could produce. After the game, Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander delivered a blunt assessment of playing on a line with stars Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner for the first time in — his words — for an entire game. "Yeah. It started not so good. It started the second period not so good, but that happens," Nylander said. "Just find each other out there. I thought we had some really good chances as well. But we've got to tighten up some stuff a little out there." The line was on the ice for both of the Dallas Stars' goals against at even-strength (in Toronto's 5-3 on Wednesday. Dallas' third goal was scored on a 6-5 situation late in regulation time. As bad as it looked at times, the line atoned for one of those goals when Nylander scored the first of two goals on the evening, taking a scoring chance to the other end of the ice after Toronto goaltender Joseph Woll stopped Roope Hintz on a breakaway. But even that led to a mistake by the top trio. On the ice, Nylander-Matthews-Marner line played 10:31 of 5-on-5 time together and had a 53 percent expected goals share, per NaturalStatTrick.com [https://www.naturalstattrick.com/game.php?season=20242025&game=20508]. An ok performance, but not what you expect from a line that tops out as the most expensive cap hit in the NHL at $35.653 million. "I know they got a goal and some chances and stuff. But just for me, I think they were off tonight a little bit like a lot of our guys were," Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said. "I don't think they had their best game. But we'll see." Given some time, the trio could be an effective line, but it's not necessarily the best distribution of talent. The second line consisting of Matthew Knies, John Tavares and Max Pacioretty struggled hard against Dallas. They had six percent of the goal share and were barely noticeable all night, except for a thunderous hit delivered by Pacioretty on Stars forward Mavrik Bourque. The third line Bobby McMann, Max Domi and Nick Robertson executed on their chances, accounting for the rest of Toronto's offense and Woll was tremendous in net. Outside of those factors, Toronto did not play well. From that standpoint, it might make sense to make the proper adjustments and you can tell Berube wasn't thrilled about the way his forwards performed as a whole. The Leafs are off on Thursday and are expected to have a full morning skate in Buffalo where there will be a better sense of what they do with the lines. There's some thought that the experiment of the Super Line should continue because they'll be playing a Buffalo Sabres team where it all began on Sunday. But if the game against the Stars is any indication, they should end it
