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In Sweden, if it didn’t work, he would have been stripped of the puck. But in the American Hockey League, where players hit to hurt, the 2014 first-round draft pick was driven Zdeno Chara-like into the stanchion that ends at the team’s bench.

“I was being so stupid there,” said Nylander, who was not hurt by the hit. “I remember coming up with the puck and basically thinking ‘I’m not going to get past this guy but let’s see if I can.’ So I’m skating and then ‘Bam!’

“If I had stopped up, nothing would have happened. I have no idea what I was thinking.”

Consider it a lesson learned. After torching the Swedish league with 20 points in 21 games for MODO — and then shining at the world junior championship, where he was the second-highest scorer with 10 points in seven games — the Leafs brought Nylander to Toronto because they believed the 18-year-old needed another challenge. But they also believed he needed to learn the hard way that some of things you can get away with on the larger ice surfaces in Sweden do not work in North America.

“He takes a lot of physical duress when he has the puck,” assistant GM Kyle Dubas said in January, “and is not at the point yet … where he can spin off and elude that type of contact.”

In 24 games with the Marlies, Nylander has scored seven goals and 17 points. But with the team fighting for a playoff spot — they are one point out with three teams in front of them — it has been his play of late that has impressed coaches and teammates.