Auston Matthews on William Nylander’s OT winner – Source: Imagn

Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews made his thoughts extremely clear about William Nylander’s overtime winner in the Maple Leafs’ 4-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.

ylander scored the game-winning goal 1:10 into overtime with Mitch Marner’s stretch pass at the offensive blueline on a breakaway.

It was Nylander’s second goal of the game after he had gone seven straight contests with just a single point.

When asked postgame about Nylander getting breakaways, Auston Matthews said:

“I don’t know who gets more breakaways in the NHL than this guy. So yeah, I had a pretty good feeling about it.”

Despite his recent scoring troubles, Matthews praised William Nylander’s ability to tune out criticism and stay focused.

“He doesn’t really, you know, change. I think he’s the same person through and through, attitude stays the same,” Matthews said. “You know,he’s going to do his thing out there, and he’s not really going to let any outside noise kind of bother him. So I think that’s something that you really appreciate.”

Matthews, who scored two goals himself in the win, was proud of the entire team’s effort to battle back and secure the victory in overtime.

“I thought we competed hard all game, you know, just had a battle out way and grind through and push it till the end. Obviously it took a full 60 minutes plus, but I’m just proud of the guys and just sticking with it,” Matthews said.

The Devils got goals from Nic Hischier (two) and Jack Hughes, while goalie Jacob Markstrom made 37 saves in the losing effort. The Maple Leafs’ Joseph Woll made 21 saves.

Auston Matthews and Maple Leafs clinch 4-3 OT win against Devils

The Devils opened the scoring with Jack Hughes’s goal at 2:21 of the opening period with Johnathan Kovacevic’s assist. But the Leafs tied the game with a goal from William Nylander at 6:14. New Jersey then took a 2-1 lead on Nico Hischier’s power play tally with a low glove shot in the second period.

In the third period at 7:43, Auston Matthews knotted the score at 2-2 on the power play with a point shot from Mitch Marner.

Hischier scored a couple of minutes later with a pass from Timo Meier to put the Devils up 3-2 on the power play. Auston Matthews scored again soon after to tie the game 3-3 and force overtime.

In overtime, Nylander scored the game-winner on a breakaway with Marner’s pass for his second goal of the night.