DETROIT — William Nylander will miss his fifth game this season when the Toronto Maple Leafs visit the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Sunday.
Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube confirmed that his star forward will not play, despite the player accompanying the club for the one-game trip to Detroit.
Nylander departed in the second period of the club’s 7-5 win against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. Although Berube didn’t specify the specifics of the lower-body injury, Nylander departed shortly after getting tangled with Senators defenseman Artem Zub.
Nylander scored the game-opening goal on the power play on Saturday. Easton Cowan, who has been a health scratch for the club’s last three games, will draw into his place.
The Leafs are 2-2-0 without Nylander in the lineup this season. He missed three games in late October due to a lower-body injury sustained at the hands of Buffalo Sabres forward Jason Zucker on Oct. 24.
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Follow all Leafs news at https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/toronto-maple-leafs/Cowan has four goals and seven assists in 26 games this season. Berube insisted there was no message sending to the 20-year-old rookie.
“I've communicated with him very well,” Berube said. “A young guy like that you got to have real good communication and let him know what's going on and why and he's in a good spot."
Maple Leafs Await William Nylander's Status For Game Against Red Wings After Lower-Body InjuryWhile William Nylander’s inclusion on the trip to Detroit offers a glimmer of hope, his potential absence looms large for a Maple Leafs team facing the division-leading Red Wings without their star winger.Cowan for Nylander will be the only change as far as skaters on the ice are considered. Dennis Hildeby is expected to get the start in goal after Joseph Woll started on Saturday. It’s typical for the team to split goaltending duties when playing games on consecutive nights.
The Leafs have won back-to-back games, but face quite a challenge against the Atlantic Division-leading Red Wings. Although satisfied with the club pulling out two points against Ottawa on Saturday, Berube wasn’t pleased with a mistake-filled third period that allowed Ottawa to pull within a goal after Toronto enjoyed a three-goal lead.
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“I think you look at the mistakes we made in the third period, they're correctable,” Berube said. “It's things we did well throughout the game that we didn't do well in the third period. But at the same time, we show a lot of going over the good stuff and the puck play and the offensive things that we did well in the game. But you always have to make corrections.”
Earlier in the day, the Leafs sent Henry Thrun to the Marlies. Toronto was allowed to temporarily exceed the 23-player roster limit when they activated Chris Tanev from long-term injured reserve on Dec. 23. Now that the holiday freeze has lifted, the club sent Thrun down to get back to 23 players. The Leafs also placed defenseman Marshall Rifai on waivers. The step was necessary because Rifai sustained a wrist injury in training camp. Although he played in one game with the Marlies on a conditioning stint, waivers were required for him to be sent back down, provided none of the other 31 NHL clubs put in a claim.
D Henry Thrun has been assigned to the Toronto Marlies (AHL).
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