Hiller plays the waiting game with Tavares, Nylander and McKenna line

While much of Monday’s postpractice scuttlebutt in the Toronto Maple Leafs dressing room revolved around the impending NHL retirement of record goal scorer Alexander Ovechkin, talk naturally turned to the team’s own ability to put the puck in the net.

Despite a new-look lineup brimming with offensive talent, and which has featured as many as nine new skaters at times during the first three games, only William Nylander, Easton Cowan and Morgan Rielly are currently above New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin in scoring.

The first line got an overdue bump in Saturday’s home defeat to the Ottawa Senators, with both Auston Matthews and Kirill Marchenko scoring their first goals of the season. But the second line, featuring John Tavares centring Nylander and first overall pick Gavin McKenna, has yet to deliver anything substantive.

“That line probably could do it better than they have,” head coach Jim Hiller said Monday, while being careful not to excuse any of the other three lines from critique.

“We worked on that in practice today. It’s just [being] a little closer together in the o-zone … winning our battles, having three guys close and bringing some pucks to the dirty areas a little quicker.”

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Hiller, who has one win and two losses through his first three games behind the Leafs bench, said that after heavy emphasis on the team’s play without the puck, Monday’s practice was really keyed on five-on-five play, quickness, playing more direct and getting traffic to the net. Toronto also did some work on its power play, which has cashed in just two of 11 opportunities, for an 18.2 per cent conversion rate.

The top line of Matthews between Marchenko and Jack Roslovic has looked lively so far. According to Sportlogiq, it is generating a shot differential of plus 10 at five on five, good for fourth in the NHL among the 40 lines with 20 or more minutes per game.

The second trio has been far less dominant. Its shot differential currently sits at minus 10 at five on five, ranking it 39th out of 40, while its slot shot differential – reflecting the difference between high-quality scoring attempts for and against – sits dead last at minus eight. Conversely, the first line is tops in that metric at plus 14.

“We’ve had some good things happen, and obviously, probably got some areas where we want to sustain some o-zone time, some better sequences, and whatnot,” Tavares said. “So, just keep building, keep working on things, and be a little sharper. And obviously, when you get your opportunities, to capitalize.”

Nylander added that the shortened preseason, which featured just four games – down from six last year – has done little to help his line find its chemistry. On the plus side, the Swedish winger has found a friendly outlet this year among the coaching staff in countryman Daniel Alfredsson with the two seen conversing in Swedish on the ice at practice.

With 1,157 points to his name, Alfredsson understands better than most coaches how to score in the NHL, but is limited to advising players now, 12 years after his retirement. Still, given the struggles of the second line so far, Nylander is grateful for the patience shown by Alfredsson, Hiller and the rest of the coaches.

“Keeping lines [together] lets it build,” he said. “I think he’s seeing kind of what I’ve been feeling in practice too is that there have been very good sequences. So, [we want to] build off of that.”

Whatever the foibles of their line, neither Nylander nor Tavares are worried about McKenna, who has been held pointless so far to start his NHL career. Tavares, who has the unique vantage point of also being McKenna’s landlord as well as his centre after inviting him to live with his family for the season, says he has been impressed with the young man’s character as much as his talent.

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“Hopefully it’s been good for him just being around my family and just being able to get away from it when he’s at home and just being able to relax,” Tavares said. “And you can tell he’s really well raised, tremendous values, very humble, very respectful, and it’s been a lot of fun.”

While Hiller felt that Saturday’s game against Ottawa was McKenna’s best game of the three – he was minus one in 12:46 of ice time – he also felt that some of his usual swagger came to the fore on Monday during the power-play drills. Playing alongside Nick Paul, Rielly, Roslovic and Cowan on the second unit, McKenna was able to get some time and space on the puck to remind everyone of his preternatural skill level.

The points will come, Hiller added, but in the meantime, he isn’t at all worried about the rookie’s development.

“He just seems unflappable to me,” the coach said. “I’m sure he wishes he had more [points] right now. Of course, that’s obvious. But I haven’t seen it affect him. When I talk to him, he’s got a smile on his face, and he walks around here the same as he did two months ago and two weeks ago. So I think that’s a really important quality for him.”