Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube may get frustrated with William Nylander’s play from time to time, but of late, he’s been singing his praise to anyone who will listen.

Nylander opened the scoring 35 seconds into Monday night’s game, and capped off the 4-2 victory with a three-point night against the Calgary Flames. Berube spoke to reporters after the game and made things very clear, the Maple Leafs are a much more dangerous team with #88 in the lineup.

“Definitely confidence, and having Willy back has really boosted our team a lot,” stated Berube following the Maple Leafs 4-2 win. “Obviously, he is a great player in this league. Having him in the lineup makes us a much more dangerous team.”

Nylander ended the game with three points, including a great play to find Troy Stecher for his third goal of the season, four-on-four in the second period to stretch the Maple Leafs lead to 3-0. Berube could tell right away what kind of game he was getting from the Swedish forward.

“Early on, I could just tell. He was just engaged right away, skating and winning all of his puck battles. Defensive plays, offensive plays — he was dialed in.”

Even when Berube spoke on defenceman Troy Stecher stepping up and having a big night against the Flames, the Leafs coach was quick to point out that Nylander was right in the middle of the play. Stecher stretched the Leafs lead to 3-0 on a nice group effort four-on-four.

“It was a great four-on-four goal with the movement. You get at four-on-four, and it is man-on-man. He beat his guy to the net, and Willy made a great play to him. He made a nice move on the goalie to put it in. You’re excited for him. He doesn’t score a lot, and it is a big goal at that time.”

An interesting tidbit was the fact the Maple Leafs once again, did not receive a power play. It’s become a trend of late, and while Berube stated he knows exactly why this has been the case, he didn’t feel like divulging into the details, likely because he didn’t want to be fined before the Olympic break.

“Well, I don’t know. I saw penalties out there tonight. I saw a tripping penalty late in the third that wasn’t called. It is what it is. You go through these stretches sometimes. I think it is three in four games that we haven’t gotten a power play. I don’t know. I don’t have an answer for that. I do, but I am not going to tell you guys.”

The Maple Leafs are right back at it on Tuesday, as they faceoff against Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers, are both teams wrap up their schedule ahead of the Olympic break.

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