With six points in his last five games, Toronto Maple Leafs star forward William Nylander is on some kind of a heater.
Unfortunately for him, he won’t be able to see if that hot hand will be able to translate to the craps table. At least not immediately.
The Leafs are in “Fabulous Las Vegas” Sunday for an afternoon tilt with the Pacific Division leading Vegas Golden Knights and it looks like the team’s general manager wants no distractions after Toronto fell 4-3 in overtime to the Colorado Avalanche Friday.
“[The Leafs are] taking a different approach than the 17 teams before them to play on the road in Vegas,” Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston said during the “Headlines” segment of Hockey Night in Canada Saturday. “They’re staying about 25 minutes from the strip and T-Mobile Arena.
“I spoke to Lou Lamoriello about this and he says he’s vacationed a lot in Vegas and he just doesn’t feel that area around the arena is conducive for work, and certainly they’ve taken note of the record the Vegas Golden Knights have at home, 15-2-1.
“They just want their players focused on hockey [Saturday night] as they’re there for the New Year.”
In other words, this just appears to be a classic case of work before play.
Still though, there will be some in Sin City Saturday for the Leafs’ New Year’s Eve game who are bound to take advantage of the many libations of the famous Vegas strip.
“I guarantee you one thing, the media’s staying on the strip,” Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said with a knowing grin.
[relatedlinks]
