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Toronto Maple Leafs right wing William Nylander (88) celebrates after scoring in the third period against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. on Nov. 25.Matt Blewett/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters

Just 24 hours after they learned that Borje Salming had lost his battle with ALS, the heartbroken Maple Leafs paid tribute to the Hall of Fame Swedish defenceman on Friday with a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild at the Excel Energy Center in St Paul.

Swedes factored in each of Toronto’s goals. William Nylander, born in Calgary and the son of a Swedish hockey player, scored the winner with 6:37 remaining in the third period. Calle Jarnkrok had one in the second, and Timothy Liljegren and Pierre Engvall had assists on the two others.

The team all wore Borje shoulder patches in blue and yellow, and a moment of silence was held before the puck drop in Salming’s memory.

“It’s very special,” Nylander said. “It was a tough and emotional day yesterday and it is nice to get the win for him and get that goal for him.”

The goal was Nylander’s 11th in 22 games and the 148th of his Maple Leafs career. It tied Salming for the second-most by a Swede in a Toronto uniform. Mats Sundin is first; he had 420 during the regular season and 38 in the playoffs.

“I just heard that after the game,” Nylander said. “It’s crazy how things work out like that.”

Salming played 16 of his 17 seasons in the NHL with the Maple Leafs and holds almost every franchise record for a defenceman. He signed with Toronto as a free agent in 1973 and became the league’s first Swedish star and in 1996 was the first Swede inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

There were few European players in the NHL when he came from Sweden but countless others have since followed the path he blazed.

In February, Salming began to experience unusual twitching in his muscles. In mid-July, he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive disease of the nervous system. He revealed the diagnosis through the Maple Leafs organization on Aug. 10 and in October said his condition had worsened to where he had lost the ability to speak and relied on a feeding tube.

Only two weeks ago, Salming, 71, had travelled to Toronto for the annual Hall of Fame game on Nov. 11 and received an emotional pregame tribute the following night that caused many tears to be shed at Scotiabank Arena.

His death was announced Thursday afternoon jointly by Salming’s family and the Maple Leafs. It came as a shock to players and fans who had watched the ceremony that honoured him so very recently.

“Our team was really touched by Borje and his family being in Toronto, and by the way the organization honoured him,” Sheldon Keefe, the Maple Leafs coach, said on Thursday. “To hear the news today is incredibly sad.

“It speaks to how devastating the illness is.”

The victory improved Toronto’s record to 12-5-5, second only to the Boston Bruins (18-3) in the Atlantic Division. The Maple Leafs are 8-1-3 over their past 12 with another game to be played on Saturday night in Pittsburgh against the Penguins.

The Wild dropped to 9-9-2.

The encounter featured a matchup in net between two former Pittsburgh teammates and Stanley Cup winners in Minnesota’s Marc-André Fleury and Toronto’s Matt Murray.

Fleury, activated from the injured list just a day earlier, wasn’t at his sharpest. He made 24 saves but let in a poor goal by Zach Aston-Reece with 7:17 remaining in the first period. Aston-Reece merely turned and flung a puck at the net from a bad angle but it slipped between Fleury and the post.

The 37-year goalie slapped it with his stick in frustration afterward.

Murray had 25 saves in his fourth victory in five starts since he returned from a groin injury. With his biggest save, he robbed Wild star Kirill Kaprizov in the dying seconds.

“I think I got a bit fortunate on that one,” Murray said.

Toronto scored first on a wrist shot from just inside the blueline by Mitch Marner less than four minutes in. It was Marner’s fifth goal of the year and extended his points streak to a career-best 15 games. The puck found its way through traffic with Fleury screened and then caromed off the leg of Minnesota’s Matt Dumba into the net.

Kaprizov responded with a power-play goal to tie it 1-1 with 7:59 remaining in the first. Forty-two seconds later, Aston-Reece scored his third of the year and the Maple Leafs were ahead again, this time 2-1.

The Wild made it 2-2 on a goal by Matt Boldy early in the second. Jarnkrok then added his fifth of the season on an easy tap-in to make it 3-2 midway through the period. Nylander got the winner in the third. Mats Zuccarello scored with Fleury pulled with 3:34 left for the final margin.

“It wasn’t pretty at times, but we found a way,” said Justin Holl, the Toronto defenceman.

The team was to fly to Pittsburgh later Friday night and then play the Penguins in the second half of a tough back-to-back.

Marner said the Leafs, who have points in seven successive games, are playing the way they want to. On Friday, it was for Borje.

“He deserves all of the praise and love he has been getting,” Marner said. “When you look at what he meant to the city of Toronto and to European players as well, his legacy will never die.”

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