Among the NHL teammates who will be on opposite benches during the 4-Nations Face-Off include Toronto Maple Leafs stars Auston Matthews and William Nylander. Matthews, who grew up in Scottsdale, Ariz., will be representing the USA while Nylander will be representing his native Sweden.

John Hynes knows that William Nylander can lead the Maple Leafs out of the little hole they’ve dug for themselves. The Leafs have scored just two goals in losing their past two games, and neither came off the stick of Nylander after the star winger had four goals in the previous three games, all Toronto victories.

Matthews and Nylander both scored two goals as Toronto battled back from 2-1 and 3-2 deficits in the third period to beat New Jersey 4-3.

Nylander has mastered the art of the breakaway simply from repetition over his 10 seasons in the NHL. The reads, the anticipation, the “highest probability or percentage spot to be on the ice to get a chance” — Nylander has got it all down now, McMann said.

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Toronto Maple Leafs’ William Nylander, right, celebrates after his winning goal against the New Jersey ...

The Wild have struggled since the injuries to these two occurred, winning just four of the 10 games since Brodin was injured, allowing 31.3 shots per game, and ranking 30th in GAA while allowing four or more goals in seven of the 10 outings.

You can look to John Tavares and Matthew Knies’ imminent returns and hope they can spark the lineup, but this is still a team with Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner. Offence should not be this difficult and they have the raw talent to at least make games interesting. Tonight was far from it.

Morgan Rielly is used to contributing with the puck on his stick. The Maple Leafs defenceman had a career-high 68 points a couple of years back and chipped in another 58 last season as part of a well-oiled attack.

The message, clearly, was received and understood, as Hynes’ team put together a 60-minute effort for its latest in a notable resume of road wins this season. The Wild got a pair of first period goals and played a strong defensive game in a 3-1 win in Toronto, beating the Maple Leafs in regulation for the first time since 2019.

The Minnesota Wild scored two first-period goals and got a 31-save effort from Filip Gustavsson to key a 3-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs Wednesday in Toronto.