Leafs organization embraces Kapanen after golden goal

HELSINKI - Shortly after his golden goal, Finland's Kasperi Kapanen was shown a tweet from fellow Toronto Maple Leafs prospect William Nylander and, if it was possible, his smile grew even wider. 

The two are teammates on the Toronto Marlies in the American Hockey League this season and had looked forward to facing off at the World Juniors. That was before a blindside hit in Sweden's opening game forced Nylander out of the tournament. 

Kapanen had two assists in Monday's 2-1 semifinal victory over Sweden, a team that was led in scoring by Alexander Nylander, William's younger brother. The Swedes were then blown out by Team USA in the bronze-medal game on Tuesday.  

"That's sweet of him," said Kapanen while still gazing down at the tweet on a phone. "It's not easy saying stuff like that after not playing in the tournament and then seeing your team not win the bronze medal, either. Willy's one of the better friends that I've ever had. I have just huge respect for him to tweet that."

Nylander wasn't the only member of the Leafs organization to send their support via social media.