The Toronto Maple Leafs almost had to play Game 6 of their first-round series against the Ottawa Senators because of a typo in the lineup by head coach Craig Berube.
In the official roster card of both teams before puck drop Thursday night, the Maple Leafs had all the typical names. No major changes to the lineup -- despite some clamoring for Nick Robertson to be added back into the mix -- captain Auston Matthews was present, Mitch Marner was there, red-hot John Tavares had his name on the sheet. And, Alex Nylander?
Leafs head coach Craig Berube accidentally listed Alex Nylander, who was recently recalled by the Leafs as part of the black aces squad for the playoffs from the AHL Toronto Marlies, on the roster and his star brother, William Nylander, as one of the scratches.
While it just seemed like an obvious mistake that should have not been a big deal, it could have potentially led to disaster. Nylander did lace up for Game 6 and was on the ice, but as Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman explained on the broadcast at first intermission, it took an official to notice the mistake for nothing to happen.
According to Rule 5.1 in the NHL rulebook, "if an official (on-ice or off-ice) notices that a player is in uniform but has not been included on the Official Game Report, the Referee shall bring this to the attention of the offending team so that the necessary correction can be made". This had to happen before the puck was dropped, though. The change was officially made to the game report in time and everything went on as normal. But, if one of the officials for Game 6 did not actually notice the error, William Nylander would not be able to play and the Leafs would be without one of their best forwards for a crucial game.
Of course, this would happen with the potential of another Toronto collapse at the front of everyone's mind. If Nylander was forced to be removed from the ice and the Leafs had to play with just 11 forwards in a Game 6 that could easily swing the momentum in Ottawa's favor as they hypothetically head to Toronto for Game 7; it would have been an abject disaster.
And to make the potential disaster really hit home, at the time of writing, Nylander is responsible for scoring the Leafs' second goal of the game in Ottawa. Which is proving to be the game winner of the Senators don't hit the back of the net again. I don't think Alex would have been able to do that.