Leafs’ William Nylander takes morning skate, Game 2 status unclear

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William Nylander was in the Maple Leafs’ Monday morning skate, but will he play?

It was not clear whether Nylander’s limited work after missing the Game 1 loss to Boston with an undisclosed injury was just to test his availability for later in the series or an attempt by Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe to mask his lineup intentions right up to pre-game warmup.

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“We’ll see how he feels the rest of the day and make a decision,” Keefe told media at TD Garden.

It certainly seemed like Nylander wouldn’t be ready, not participating in line rushes (the Leafs showed the same units as Game 1) and not joining the first or second units of the power play.

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He stayed out late with forward Noah Gregor and other potential scratches after a Sunday optional with the team. He had not missed a game all season until reports he woke up Thursday with a body ache versus an illness.

Nylander had a 98-point season, two short of becoming the first Leafs winger to reach 100. But that run was obscured by his rather flat finish in April and the bigger hype about Auston Matthews’ pursuit of 70 goals.

Nylander had a huge Game 5 for the Leafs in an eventual second-round series loss to Florida last year and the plan before late-schedule injuries popped up seemed to be having Nylander on a third line to spread out the scoring between himself, Matthews and Mitch Marner.

Tyler Bertuzzi for Calle Jarnkrok on the first power-play group was the only other change Keefe appeared to be contemplating.

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Ilya Samsonov was the first Toronto goalie off the ice, a sign he is expected to get the start in Game 2 on Monday night.

Jeremy Swayman is expected to start for Boston, though coach Jim Montgomery kept up at least token resistance to outright naming him over Linus Ullmark.

While Keefe is trying to improve a poor Leafs playoff record the past 20 years, there’s a different pressure upon Montgomery in this series after his club’s 65-win season failed to win one playoff round last year.

He gave this year’s Game 1 start to Swayman after staying with Ullmark too long before turning to him in Game 7 in losing to Florida.

This time, Swayman’s regular-season success against Toronto (3-0-0) made him the easy pick and big early saves in Game 1 justified breaking up what had been a steady rotation with Ullmark.

“I thought his athleticism allowed him to make some really bouncing-puck rebound saves,” Montgomery said after Game 1. “Made a couple of point-blank saves early in the first. Then I thought we got to our game. So it was really important he made those saves.”

lhornby@postmedia.com

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