What William Nylander said about Sergei Bobrovsky after Leafs loss

William Nylander says Sergei Bobrovsky bailed out the Maple Leafs, but the team didn't make it easy on him in Saturday night's loss to Montreal.

Toronto fell 4-2 to the Canadiens and has now lost two straight. The Maple Leafs sit at 8-8-2, seventh in the Atlantic Division.

Bobrovsky stopped 24 of 28 shots in the loss. Nylander scored on the power play and put four shots on net himself, so he spoke as a player who was part of the offense and still saw the problem.

Leafslatest passed along his postgame comments, and Nylander was blunt that the goals against weren't all on the goalie: "He had some huge saves, we don't make the game easy on him off of some of the goals."

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He added that the team wants to "build our game" and that he thought the Leafs "had legs today" and were skating. The post cuts off there, so the rest of his thought isn't known.

That's a different tone from earlier in the week. Nylander had already pointed to communication as Toronto's biggest problem before the Montreal game, and Saturday's loss didn't exactly make him a liar.

He leads the conversation for a reason. Nylander has 11 goals and 11 assists through 18 games, and he's one of the few Leafs whose own numbers aren't the issue.

Why the Maple Leafs need a cleaner game tonight

Toronto has scored 64 goals and allowed 60, a +4 differential that looks like a .500 team because it is one. Bobrovsky can't keep covering for breakdowns and hold that line.

Coach Jim Hiller has been working on the other end as well. He said earlier this week he wants Nylander more involved in the breakout, which is part of Nylander's shifting role under Hiller.

Legs and skating are fine, but the same talk about communication three days running starts to point at structure, not effort. Fixing that falls on Hiller's staff as much as on the players.

The Leafs host New Jersey tonight with a chance to stop the slide at two.

Quick hits

VANCOUVER CANUCKS: Brock Boeser pulled the Canucks within one late in Edmonton, but they still lost 4-2. That's five straight defeats, and the standings pressure is getting real.

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EDMONTON OILERS: Jason Gregor says Connor McDavid is up to 47 points in 18 games after the Oilers beat the Canucks. Forty-seven in 18. Absurd.

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COLORADO AVALANCHE: Martin Necas said it plainly after the 4-0 win over the Red Wings: special teams get Colorado going. Hard to argue with a shutout.

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LOS ANGELES KINGS: Alex Laferriere told Zach Dooley the Kings simply weren't ready for Pittsburgh, and he put it squarely on the players. Refreshing honesty, not a great look.

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CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS: The Blackhawks got hammered 9-2 in Carolina, and Spencer Knight was pulled after allowing six goals on 17 shots. A brutal night in the crease.

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