Toronto Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube on William Nylander’s line change (Source: Imagn)

Toronto Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube explained why he moved William Nylander to the top line during their 5-3 win against the Buffalo Sabres.

Berube moved William Nylander to the line with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner during the game. That’s $35.9 million worth of forwards together. Matthew Knies joined John Tavares and Max Pacioretty on the second line. The coach did this to match them against Tage Thompson’s strong line and give Matthews’ group more freedom.

Berube said he wanted better matchups, particularly against the Sabres’ heavy Thompson line.

“In my head, I thought I could get Tavares with Knies and Pacioretty at times against the Thompson line — a big and heavy line,” Berube said. “That was my thought: to not use Matthews against them so much for the rest of the game. We were down, so I wanted to kind of loosen those guys up a little bit and give them some different looks. That was my thought process on it, and it worked out.” [8:49]

The decision paid off as Tavares scored his 14th NHL hat trick, leading Toronto to a comeback win. Domi and Robertson each had a goal and an assist, while McMann added two assists. William Nylander and Matthews provided one assist each. Goaltender Dennis Hildeby made 24 saves in his third NHL start, helping Toronto recover after trailing early.

Berube said the Domi line’s physical play made a big difference.

“They played excellent (Domi and Robertson),” Berube said per NHL.com “I thought they were way more engaged with their physical play and hounding and puck battles. They did a real good job, that line was excellent for us tonight and we needed them to be.”

Toronto turned the game around in the second period, scoring three goals in 2:31.

Auston Matthews and William Nylander’s helper in John Tavares’ hat trick

Robertson started the rally with a one-timer off a McMann pass. Tavares tied the game moments later on the power play, Matthews and William Nylander provided the helper. This was Nylander’s 13th helper this NHL season. He is currently at 31 points with 18 goals, tied for 5th in the league.

Tavares then gave Toronto the lead with a wrist shot off a Chris Tanev pass.

“I’m just playing. I think I’ve got a lot of belief in my game and what I can do, whether that is scoring or just making an impact all over the ice.” Tavares said per NHL.com.

Tavares completed his hat trick in the third period with an empty-net goal, his 15th goal this NHL season.