Maple Leafs' Craig Berube to William Nylander: 'Shoot the puck, stay involved'

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William Nylander has one goal in his past 11 games.

Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube thinks he might have a solution to Nylander’s drought.

“We talk about working his way out of it,” Berube said. “I go back to the Carolina game (last Thursday), in that first period he was really explosive in that game and on top of things (and scored).

“It’s just getting him back to more consistency with that and when he has opportunities, shoot the puck. He has to stay involved in the game a little bit longer than he is.

“Like our whole team, offensively, we’ve got to keep working and got to stay on. We need second and third effort everywhere. This league is a second-and-third-effort league. This time of year, it gets hard and we all know that, and we need second and third effort.

“You can’t wait for opportunities. You have to go get them, you have to earn them. It’s like bounces, you have to work for them, you have to create your own luck.”

In 10 of his games this season, Nylander has had at least five shots on goal. During this slump, he has not had more than four shots in any game, and has done that just three times.

Before National Hockey League games on Wednesday, Nylander was eighth in league goalscoring with 24 in 45 games.

“Sometimes it happens,” Nylander said of his scoring dip. “You want to get back to creating chances every night. If it’s not going in, it’s not going in, but at least you’re creating. That’s what I want to get back to.”

Has his confidence taken a hit?

“Maybe in some opportunities where I would be shooting the puck, I’m deciding to pass or something like that,” Nylander said. “Other than that, I don’t really feel like that’s gone.”

It’s not just Nylander whose production has fallen off.

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After scoring in three games in a row from Dec. 15-20 for his only three goals of the season, Max Domi has gone 12 games without scoring.

Berube and Domi met for a pre-practice chat on Wednesday.

“Just talking about staying in battles longer and using his body and physicality a little more, in our own zone, killing plays,” Berube said. “In the offensive zone too, winning those battles. He’s a strong guy, he has good skill. I like the way he is skating right now, he has to keep skating and attacking and shooting, being direct.”

We would point out that if Nylander is producing more, the Leafs’ chances of winning would increase. He wasn’t too concerned with the club’s three-game losing streak, though could see the benefit of some adversity.

“All good teams need to go through some stretch where everything is not clicking,” Nylander said. “Good teams find their way out of this. It’s only been three games. What’s the big deal, really?”

tkoshan@postmedia.com

X: @koshtorontosun