Nylander joins Matthews on top line as Leafs overhaul forward group

The Maple Leafs held a practice at Ford Performance Centre on Thursday before travelling to Buffalo.

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Auston Matthews is stuck on just one 5-on-5 goal through seven games and has yet to beat a goalie with his trademark shot.

“I’d like to be better,” the Leafs captain admitted. “I thought the other night was a tough night. Sometimes you fight the puck a little bit.”

Matthews was held off the scoresheet and finished minus-two in Tuesday’s 5-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils.

“Physically feel good,” said Matthews, who was plagued by an upper-body injury last season. “I just want to kind of get the ball rolling a little bit more offensively and more consistently.”

Craig Berube will look to spark Matthews by playing him with William Nylander on Friday night in Buffalo when the Leafs open a home-and-home set against the Sabres.

“Auston’s a shooter and Willy’s a great playmaker,” the coach said. “We underestimate his playmaking ability.”

Nylander, who finished second overall with 45 goals last season, leads the Leafs with 11 assists and 13 points this year.

Berube highlighted Nylander’s ability to transport the puck up the ice and create offensive-zone time, which has been an issue for the Matthews unit.

“It’s a guy that hangs onto pucks in the offensive zone and moves and gets separation,” Berube noted. “To me, that’s important.”

Mitch Marner did that well and it’s a big reason why he slotted seamlessly beside Matthews for so many years.

How does Nylander compare to Marner?

“They’re different players, but the way that they see the game, the way that they skate, their edge work is very similar,” Matthews said. “I’d say Willy’s more of a shooter in some regards, but just the way that he sees the ice, you know, consistently has the puck on his stick, making plays, is able fend guys off, I think it’s pretty similar in that regard.”

It’s been tough for the Leafs to find a replacement for Marner on the right side of the top line so far. Friday will be the team’s eighth regular season outing and Nylander will already be the fourth player to start a game in that spot.

“I don’t have much patience,” Berube said with a smile. “I like results.”

Nylander and Matthews played a lot together earlier in their careers, but it’s been a more sporadic occurrence in recent seasons.

“We’ve built chemistry over this time we’ve been here together,” Nylander said. “I know that it clicks when we play together.”

“A special player,” Matthews said. “We’ve got a lot of experience together so hopefully we can just kind of hit the ground running.”

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After watching his team drop two straight games to fall to 3-3-1 on the season, Berube felt a change was needed.

“All I’m looking for is just consistency in all four lines,” he explained.

And Friday’s practice featured a change to all four lines.

Bobby McMann skated beside Matthews and Nylander. Left winger Matthew Knies, who has played beside Matthews all season, moved down to the second line with John Tavares and Matias Maccelli.

After starting Tuesday’s game on the right side of the top line, Max Domi skated as the fourth-line centre at Thursday’s practice.

“I wanted to get Max back in the middle,” Berube said. “I just feel like he moves better there, and has more freedom to skate and do his thing.”

Domi was flanked by Steven Lorentz and Calle Jarnkrok.

Rookie winger Easton Cowan, who was a healthy scratch on Tuesday after getting a four-game look on the top line, practised on the third line with Nicolas Roy and Dakota Joshua.

Nick Robertson projects to be a healthy scratch for the first time this season.

“Mixing guys up a little bit, it’s not a bad thing all the time,” Berube said.

Although Berube objected to the idea that the line changes constitute a “full reset” for the team.

“I mean, it’s not like these guys have never played with each other,” the coach stressed. “They have. Willy and Matthews have played together before. J.T. and Knies have played together before. Roy and Joshua have already played together. Max has played with these guys before.”

Still, Berube readily admits there’s no guarantee the shake up will have the desired impact.

“Like, who knows how it’s going to work out,” he said.

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Defenceman Morgan Rielly skated before practice, but did not take part in the main workout.

“He’s dealing with something,” Berube confirmed. “I don’t know yet [his status] for tomorrow.”

Rielly picked up an injury during Tuesday’s game. He is off to a strong start to the season with six points in seven games. He leads the Leafs in ice time (22:11 per game).

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Defenceman Chris Tanev was placed on injured reserve, which means he will miss at least one week. The 35-year-old sustained an upper body injury on Tuesday.

“He affects the game in a very good way for us and in a number of areas,” Berube said. “Listen, everybody’s got to step up for sure, and not just the D, the forwards. We all need to play better going forward here.”

Jake McCabe, who usually plays with Tanev, was paired with Brandon Carlo, who usually skates with Rielly, at practice.

Dakota Mermis was called up from the Toronto Marlies and was paired with Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

Philippe Myers, who has been a healthy scratch in all seven games this season, skated on the third pair with Simon Benoit.

The Leafs went 3-3-1 without Tanev last season.

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Berube and Nylander engaged in a lengthy and animated discussion before practice.

“Just talking [about] some power play stuff,” Nylander said. “And just some general stuff, yeah.”

“He’s teaching me about stuff and [the] power play and where to shoot and this and that,” Berube said. “Always a good conversation with him. I enjoy those.”

Once the team started power play work, the coaching staff drew a line down the side of the offensive zone just outside the faceoff dots.

“Go inside those lines, not maybe be stuck on the outside,” Nylander said of the message with a smile. “I think, I don’t know, actually, but that’s what my thought would be.”

“Don’t get outside that line,” Berube said of the message. “You know, let’s get inside more and shoot.”

The Leafs are 2/16 on the power play this season (12.5 per cent, 28th overall).

“We’re getting shots every power play, but a little bit wide at times,” Berube said. “It’s more of a dangerous shot inside those dots so we just put those lines there so they could see it.”

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Tavares is within two goals of 500 for his NHL career.

“It’s never your focus whether you’re a kid or once you make it to the NHL and trying to establish yourself,” Tavares said of the looming milestone. “It’s just always trying to prove yourself year after year, not resting on what you’ve already done or accomplished, and continuing to push for more and to be better. So, yeah, hard to believe you get to that kind of number.”

After scoring on Tuesday, Tavares is tied for 49th on the all-time NHL goals list with Glenn Anderson.

Mats Sundin is the last player to score goal No. 500 while wearing a Leafs sweater. The milestone marker came on Oct. 14, 2006 when Sundin thrilled fans in Toronto by completing a hat trick with a shorthanded overtime goal.

“It’s pretty memorable, right,” Tavares said with a smile. “Just a special stage and when it kind of comes together, those moments in sports are always phenomenal.”

Sundin is actually the only player to score goal No. 500 while wearing a Leafs sweater.

“I wasn’t aware of that,” Tavares said. “A bit surprising, but there’s no doubt there’s going to be a few more here. Obviously, some guys are [on that trajectory] on this team.”

Matthews is already up to 405 career goals and has two more years on his contract beyond this one. Nylander is up to 264 goals and is under contract with the Leafs through the 2031-32 season.

Matthews and Nylander both credit Tavares for helping accelerate their ascent.

“He’s a great example of true professionalism,” Matthews said. “It’s been great for myself ... to kind of learn from that.”

“Just a complete professional,” Nylander said. “I mean, if a coach put a picture of a pro, I think that would be him.”

On Thursday, per usual, Tavares was among the last players on the ice after practice putting in extra work.

“His preparation is the same every day, it’s amazing,” said Berube. “He’s so disciplined. He might be the most disciplined player I’ve ever been around in terms of that stuff.”

Berube compares Tavares’ meticulous approach to that of Ryan O’Reilly who he coached in St. Louis.

“Never took a day off either,” Berube said. “And JT’s probably above and beyond that. It’s impressive.”

The coach broke into a big smile.

“I remember I got to a hotel room last year and I had all these bags of groceries in my room and I’m like, ‘Wow, that’s nice of them to give me all this food.’ And it was from Whole Foods Market. So I’m opening all this stuff up and I’m looking at it and I’m like, ‘Who would we eat this’? But they put it in the wrong room. It was JT’s stuff. So I made a delivery to him.”

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Lines at Thursday’s Leafs practice:

McMann - Matthews - Nylander

Knies - Tavares - Maccelli

Joshua - Roy - Cowan

Lorentz - Domi - Jarnkrok

Blais, Robertson

McCabe - Carlo

Mermis - Ekman-Larsson

Benoit - Myers

Stolarz

Primeau

Power play units at Thursday’s Leafs practice:

QB: Ekman-Larsson

Flanks: Matthews, Nylander

Middle: Tavares

Net front: Knies

QB: McCabe

Flanks: Cowan, Maccelli

Middle: Domi

Net front: McMann