Prime Video’s newest docuseries Faceoff: Inside the NHL was finally released on Friday. The series follows 13 NHL players—David Pastrnak, Jeremy Swayman, Jack Eichel, Filip Forsberg, Quinn Hughes, Gabriel Landeskog, Jacob Trouba, Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Matthew Tkachuk and William Nylander—as they battle towards the ultimate goal, the Stanley Cup.
With Nylander being one of the two stars featured in Episode 1 alongside Pastrnak, I looked at what we could expect from Nylander in this first episode. With it having now been released and viewed by my own two eyes, let’s get into a rundown and some key takeaways from the Leafs’ and more specifically Nylander’s appearance in the episode titled “Best of Rivals.”
NHL upbringing and connection to Pastrnak
Nylander’s father, Michael Nylander, was a true journeyman in the NHL, playing for eight teams across his 15-year career. With that, the future Leafs star moved around a lot throughout his youth and never had a true place to call home, that is, until he was drafted by the Leafs in 2014. When he came to Toronto, it was the first time he had a real sense of home, and he definitely felt the passion and intensity of the Leafs’ fandom in Toronto.
“This is the only place that’s been home for me. Like I’ve never spent so much time in one place in my entire life, which is pretty crazy,” said Nylander. “I can’t say that I’ve been to like Real Madrid or Barcelona or any Premier League games, but, I mean, how invested people are in those teams, and how much they care, that’s how it is here.”
These sound bites are all laid over a nice bit of footage of Nylander hopping on an outdoor rink to play some shinny with some local Toronto youth. The scene then shifts to another integral part of the episode which is Nylander’s relationship with Pastrnak.
In their mid-teens, the two became close friends playing for the Swedish junior team Sodertalje. Nylander points out that the two couldn’t even speak to each other at first due to a language barrier, but that it was their “amazing chemistry” on the ice that made them get so close as friends. This portion is capped off with the two getting dinner in Toronto the night before the Leafs’ March 4 home game against the Bruins. Spoiler alert, the Bruins won 4-1, which then gets us into the actual NHL hockey featured in the episode.
Nylander’s playoff migraines
Unfortunately for all Leafs fans, they had to watch this episode knowing it would ultimately culminate in their favourite team taking yet another Game 7 loss to Boston. However, there were definitely some interesting moments showcased when it came to Nylander. First among them was a deeper dive into his absence from the first three games of the series.
While he wasn’t at any of those first three games in person, Nylander allowed the cameras into his home while he watched his team on television. Seeing his nervousness and reactions to the highs and lows of the games was a nice personal touch that also showed just how much Nylander cares about the game. Multiple times you can see him nervously pacing around his apartment and even sitting on the literal edge of his seat while watching. Through this at-home section, we even get a more in-depth explanation from Nylander of his migraines that appeared during the second-to-last game of the season and caused him to miss almost half the series.
“I had a migraine, a severe migraine. Played the next night, still had the migraine symptoms and everything. Like you can see, but if you’d tell me to read something, I’d have a hard time reading it,” Nylander explained. “And we were extra cautious in case it could have been a concussion or whatever. At that point in time it wasn’t like a question of ‘can I play’ or ‘can I not play?’ It was just like, ‘I’m not playing.’”
Nylander’s playoff return and timeout tirade
As we know, Nylander came back for Game 4, and while the game didn’t go the Leafs’ way, we do get an unreal soundbite of the fabled argument that occurred between Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and Nylander on the Leafs’ bench. Nylander says that when he’s in playoff mode, he “becomes a different player in those moments”, prefacing the expletive-filled comments he gave to his star teammates.
“Just f***ing shoot it. Stop f***ing crying bro,” said Nylander during a timeout. “This is the f***ing issue. You guys f***ing b**ch about s**t. Let’s f***ing go.”
Part of this tirade was featured in the trailer, but it was interesting to see the full sound bite and with more prior context. I also can’t help but feel like that moment played a part in firing the Leafs up, leading to them inevitably evening the series and forcing a Game 7 helped in large part by Nylander’s two-goal performance in Game 6.
Game 7 loss but at least Willy has his dogs
We knew this was how it would end but it didn’t make it any easier to watch over again. Scoreless through the first two, one apiece in the third and then down came overtime, which was made even more gut-wrenching with the Nylander interview response they showed right before the overtime portion.
“I came in here when I was 18 years old,” said Nylander. “A lot of years now we’ve lost Game 7 and then you go to say, ‘Next year, we’ll be better next year, next year.’ F**k that.”
It would unfortunately be yet another “next year” as we all saw Pastrnak send the Leafs home in yet another first-round loss. The one bright side is that we at least know Nylander didn’t return to complete sadness in Toronto. Nylander’s two dogs, Pablo and Banksy, were featured throughout the episode in all their fluffy cuteness, and Leafs fans can rest easy knowing Nylander likely got a warm welcome from the two pooches.
“You know that’s why I love the dogs, because, you know, you come home, you had a big game, but it’s time to take them out for a walk and that’s all they care about. So it’s a nice little reset coming home, you know?” said Nylander. “They don’t care if you played like s**t. They don’t care if you played unbelievable. They’re just happy to see you.”
