William Nylander Opens Up About Nearly Missing Game 6 Due to Critical Lineup Error

It was not the series the Maple Leafs had hoped for with a 3-0 series lead against Ottawa, but managed to fight through the struggle and come out on top. Led by two goals from William Nylander and a game-winner from Max Pacioretty; it was a great sign of what's hopefully to come.

But Toronto may have very well lost that game too, given that originally Nylander wasn't in the lineup. the correct one at least.

A lineup error that put Alex Nylander instead of his brother could have cost the Maple Leafs heavily in Game 6 and could have potentially cost them the series. But things were fixed pretty quickly thankfully, and Nylander went on to put the nail in the coffin in the dying seconds of the game.

Commenting about things afterwards, the star forward was pretty thankful and relieved that someone noticed quick enough to rectify things:

Granted, it was always a possibility given the team called up Nylander as part of the playoff insurance policy, but with him not even joining the team, Toronto would have been shorthanded, or potentially needed him to rush down and get ready to play.

They avoided a penalty on the play, but could have had a two-minute minor to start due to Rule 7.2 which would have afforded them at least one face-off to figure things out, but beyond that would have been hopeless.

If Nylander had missed it would have been catastrophic for the Maple Leafs. Not only was he a huge reason the team got past the Senators in Game 6 in the first place, but has been one of their most consistent performers this postseason.

In those six games he's posted nine points (3G, 6A) leading the team in that category while also being tied for the most goals with Matthew Knies and John Tavares; he was a stud all season and that carried over into the first round, but he needs to be even better against the Panthers.

Let's just hope for the sake of the team and for the series that we don't get any critical lineup errors, because next time they might not be so lucky.

Not only is it going to cost them two minutes in the box, but could lead to their second round downfall.