The Toronto Maple Leafs’ lineup for Thursday’s Game 6 had star William Nylander listed as a scratch and brother Alex Nylander listed in the lineup.
According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, if the game had started before the fix had been made, William Nylander could have been pulled from the lineup. It would have been another example of the bad luck that has happened to the Maple Leafs since they last won the Stanley Cup in 1967.
But in a sign that the Maple Leafs’ luck might be changing, the mistake was caught, the right Nylander dressed and he carried Toronto to a clinching 4-2 win.
William Nylander had a power-play assist and a goal to give Toronto a 2-0 lead. Ottawa eventually tied the game when David Perron’s bad-angle shot banked in off the back of goalie Anthony Stolarz’s mask. But Max Pacioretty broke the tie and Nylander put the game away with an empty-net goal.
It was the Maple Leafs’ second playoff series win since 2004. They’ll face the Florida Panthers in the second round.
Golden Knights, Oilers advance
The Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers will face each other in the second round after winning in Game 6 of their respective series.
The Golden Knights got a goal and assist each from Jack Eichel and Mark Stone to down the Minnesota Wild 3-2. The game marked goalie Marc-Andre Fleury’s farewell.
The Oilers picked up their fourth series win in four seasons against the Kings, who once led the series 2-0. Goalie Calvin Pickard won all four of his starts after replacing Stuart Skinner.
Avalanche rally to force Game 7
Valeri Nichushkin and Nathan MacKinnon scored about three minutes apart in the third period as Colorado rallied to beat the Dallas Stars 7-4.
Game 7 will be Saturday (8 p.m. ET, ABC) in Dallas. Stars coach Peter DeBoer is 8-0 in Game 7s.
