Injured Leafs forward William Nylander misses Game 3 loss - ESPN

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William Nylander remained out of the Toronto Maple Leafs' lineup as they lost Game 3 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Boston Bruins on Wednesday.

The Leafs winger had already missed Games 1 and 2 with an undisclosed injury. Toronto trails 2-1 in the series after Wednesday's 4-2 loss.

Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe had said there was "a chance" of Nylander stepping back in after he was a full participant in the team's morning skate. Keefe said the final decision would hinge on how Nylander responded throughout the day.

Wednesday was the first time since his injury that Nylander had been in the Leafs' regular rotation at the pregame skate, appearing on a line with Calle Jarnkrok and Pontus Holmberg. Nylander had been on the ice at least twice before Wednesday's workout but stayed mostly on the perimeter doing his own work.

Once the main portion of Wednesday's session concluded, Nylander performed extra drills with the Leafs' projected scratches. That left some question about whether he'd be ready for Wednesday's action.

Toronto was likely to get an offensive boost if Nylander played. He is coming off a 40-goal season with a career-best 98 points. He also has been a consistent playoff performer, registering 17 goals and 40 points in 50 postseason contests.

With Nylander unavailable, Keefe stuck with the same lineup he used in Games 1 and 2. That put rookie Nick Robertson back in on Toronto's third line, where he's been entrenched since the postseason started. Auston Matthews also was back in his top-line spot after skipping the Leafs' morning skate for extra rest.

Meanwhile, the Bruins turned back to Jeremy Swayman in net for Game 3. Boston secured a dominant 5-1 victory behind Swayman in Game 1 then went with goaltender Linus Ullmark in a 3-2 Game 2 loss. Boston also shuffled the deck on its backend, replacing injured defenseman Andrew Peeke with Mason Lohrei and slotting him onto the top pairing with Charlie McAvoy.