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The Detroit Red Wings seem to have the Toronto Maple Leafs' number in 2025-26.
After Saturday night's blown lead that ended in a 6-3 loss in Detroit, the Maple Leafs came back on Monday with a much better effort at home, though it didn't change the ultimate result.
Despite outshooting the Red Wings 40-15, Toronto was beaten 3-2 thanks to a stellar showing from Cam Talbot and a last-minute goal from Mason Appleton to break the deadlock.
While the Maple Leafs piled up the shots on Talbot, William Nylander wasn't necessarily one of them, registering just two shots on goal while going pointless on the afternoon.
The superstar winger has surprisingly been held to just three shots total in the first three games of the new season, and head coach Craig Berube let it be known that they need way more from him during his postgame media availability.
"Willy needs more shots; he doesn't have enough shots. I think in Detroit he didn't have any; had 1 or 2 tonight. We need to get him more. He needs to attack more. He needs to shoot more. He's got to get on the inside more, things like that. So yeah, we do need more out of him," Berube said.
The 29-year-old Nylander has been productive despite the lack of shots, with one goal and three assists for four points through the first three games of the campaign.
Berube wants to figure it out
To put things into perspective, William Nylander averaged more than three shots per game over the previous three seasons.
While it's extremely early in this new year, Berube wants this lack of aggression to stop before it becomes a trend.
Luke Fox of Sportsnet shared more of the bench boss's comments on X (formerly Twitter).
"I don't know exactly what it is, to be honest with you. I'll have a conversation with him, see where he's at and what's going on," Berube said.
Craig Berube says William Nylander (3 shots in 3 games) needs to attack more, shoot more, and get to the inside.
"I don't know exactly what it is, to be honest with you. I'll have a conversation with him, see where he's at and what's going on."
There's no need to worry about Nylander at this point in time, and quite frankly, it's pretty impressive to see that he's still producing at over a point per game despite not playing to his potential thus far.
His next chance to redeem himself will come very soon as the Nashville Predators are in town for a matchup on Tuesday night.
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