It was a valiant comeback effort by the Ottawa Senators, but in the end, losing the first three games of their first round playoff series was just too much to overcome. 

The Senators' 2024-25 season came to an end in Game 6 on Thursday night with a 4-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. William Nylander led the way for Toronto with two goals and an assist. Max Pacioretty, who was moved up to the second line tonight, had two points, including the winning goal with 5:39 to play. Brady Tkachuk and David Perron scored for the Sens, who were dead even in shots with Toronto at 23 apiece.

The opening period was one of the most wide-open we've seen in the series. Both teams had some excellent chances, but the scoring dam refused to break until Brady Tkachuk’s interference penalty in the neutral zone with just over two minutes left in the period. The hit was slightly late, but it's the kind of hit that officials frequently overlook, especially in games as important as this one.

After going cold for two games, Toronto then finally capitalized with the extra man. From the left point, Auston Matthews directed a puck at the net with the approximate speed of a firm pass. It made its way through traffic, and just as a screened Linus Ullmark came off the post in search of a view of the puck, the puck slid past his skate, just inside the post.

It was reminiscent of an intermission contest where a fan successfully shoots a puck through a tiny slot in a board covering the net.

That gave the Leafs some momentum heading into the intermission, and they built on their lead in the first minute of the second period. Pacioretty knocked the puck away from Nick Jensen at the Ottawa blue line and it ended up on the stick of  Nylander. Thomas Chabot, who backed up way too far, allowed Nylander all the time he needed to pick his spot under Ullmark's blocker.

Less than seven minutes later, both Chabot and Tkachuk made amends, teaming up for Ottawa's first goal of the game. Chabot's knee-high wrist shot from the left point was handled masterfully by Tkachuk, who tipped it over Anthony Stolarz's right shoulder to cut the lead in half.

The Senators came out strong in the third period. Tim Stutzle had an early chance, deflecting one off the goal post, and he created several great opportunities for himself throughout the period. However, he couldn't capitalize.

But Canadian Tire Centre erupted when veteran David Perron scored from down below the goal line, banking the puck in off of Stolarz's back to tie the game at 2.

The celebration was short-lived.

Less than two minutes later, with everyone thinking overtime, Toronto's Max Domi outworked Ottawa's defense behind the Senators' net and found Pacioretty alone in the high slot. Pacioretty then beat Ullmark to restore Toronto’s lead with less than six minutes to go.

Nylander then put the game away with an empty netter to seal the deal.

So Toronto takes the first Battle of Ontario in 21 years, improving their playoff record against Ottawa to 5-0. The Leafs will face the Florida Panthers again in round two.

On his 29th birthday, William Nylander was reportedly close to being held out of the Toronto Maple Leafs' lineup due to a game sheet issue.

Ahead of Game 6 against the Ottawa Senators, the Maple Leafs inserted Alex Nylander, William's brother, on the game sheet instead of the 29-year-old. According to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, NHL officials caught this before the game began, allowing Nylander to play.

If an official hadn't caught the mistake before the game started, there would've been a chance that Nylander wouldn't have been able to play.

Per rule 5.1 in the NHL's rulebook: "Prior to the game, if an official (on-ice or off-ice) notices that a player is in uniform but has not been included on the submitted lineup, the Referee shall bring this to the attention of the offending team so that the necessary correction can be made to the Official Game Report with no penalty assessed."

Below is rule 5.2 of the rulebook, which is what could've happened to Nylander had the officials missed it.

"Only players on the submitted line-up before the game may participate in the game. The determining factor when considering whether or not a player is eligible is that the player’s name, and not necessarily the player’s number, must be correctly listed by the Manager or Coach of that team," the rulebook states.

"Whenever an ineligible player is identified to the Referee, the ineligible player will be removed from the game and the Club shall not be able to substitute another player from its roster. No additional penalties are to be assessed but a report of the incident must be submitted to the Commissioner."

'We've Only Done It Once Before': Gauging The Temperature Of The Maple Leafs Ahead Of Game 6 Against The SenatorsKanata, Ont. — The Toronto Maple Leafs have another chance to close out their series with the Ottawa Senators on Thursday when they visit Canadian Tire Centre for Game 6 of their first-round playoff series.

Nylander had an assist on Auston Matthews' power play goal in the first period of Game 6. His sixth assist of the series came on Toronto's first power play goal in an elimination game in 30 opportunities.

The forward also scored 43 seconds into the second period against Ottawa after intercepting the puck at the offensive blue line. It was Nylander's second goal of the series, after scoring in Game 1 on Apr. 20.

WILLIAM NYLANDER 🚨

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! pic.twitter.com/lSNomT9W51

— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) May 2, 2025

Nylander has eight points — two goals and six assists — through six games in the Battle of Ontario. He scored a career-high 45 goals in 82 games this season.

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After parting ways with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday, it was clear that former head coach Mike Sullivan was going to be in high demand.

And it appears he may have already landed his next gig.

According to a joint report by ESPN's Emily Kaplan and Kevin Weekes, the New York Rangers are in "advanced contract talks" to name Sullivan the 38th coach in franchise history.

In addition, the contract is allegedly one of the "richest" coaching contracts in NHL history. 

The New York Rangers are in advanced contract talks to name Mike Sullivan head coach, sources told @KevinWeekes & me. It is expected to be one of the richest coaching contracts in NHL history.

— Emily Kaplan (@emilymkaplan) May 1, 2025

A native of Boston, Sullivan, 57, became the head coach of the Penguins in December of 2015. He led Pittsburgh to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and 2017, and he departed Pittsburgh a decade later as the winningest coach in franchise history with 409 regular season victories - as well as 44 playoff wins. 

Things Are Reportedly Getting Close And Trending Toward Mike Sullivan Becoming The Rangers' CoachThe New York Rangers appear very close to hiring their next head coach. 

The Rangers missed the playoffs this season as the reigning President's Trophy winners, falling short of expectations in every discernible way with an 11th-place Eastern Conference finish and six points out of the final wild card spot.

They finished the season 39-36-7 and fired former head coach Peter Laviolette following the conclusion of the regular season.

8 Possible Replacements For Mike Sullivan As Penguins Head CoachWith the shocking news that the Pittsburgh Penguins and longtime coach Mike Sullivan have mutually agreed to part ways, it comes as no surprise that one of the first talking points is who will be the one replace him.

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The Carolina Hurricanes were the first club to move to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs earlier this week, with three former Sabres in William Carrier, Eric Robinson and Taylor Hall contributing to them getting past the New Jersey Devils in five games. On Wednesday, the Hurricanes announced that they have signed the 33-year-old Hall to a three-year, $9.5 million contract extension. 

The Edmonton Oilers 2010 first overall pick was part of the three-way deal with Colorado and Chicago in January that also saw winger Mikko Rantanen go to the Canes. Hall was a rental in the final year of a four-year deal he signed with Boston and finished the season with 18 points (9 goals, 9 assists) in 31 games. 

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The Calgary native joined the Sabres in 2020 on a one-year, $8 million deal with Buffalo in 2020 after winning the Hart Trophy in 2018 and being dealt to Arizona, to play under former Oilers head coach Ralph Krueger. His tenure with the Sabres was disastrous, as Hall scored two goals in 37 games and was dealt to Boston in April 2021 with Curtis Lazar for Anders Bjork and a 2021 second-round pick that turned into Russian forward Aleksandr Kisakov.

Here is how some former Sabres did in the playoffs on Wednesday:

Joel Armia(MTL) 1A, +1, 9:53 TOI, 2 Hits

Montreal was eliminated by Washington in five games. 

Sam Reinhart(FLA) 1G, 1A +1, 20:09 TOI, 7 SOG

Evan Rodrigues(FLA) 13:58 TOI

Dmitri Kulikov(FLA) -1, 21:57 TOI, 7 Hits

Zemgus Girgensons(TB) -1, 8:27 TOI, 5 Hits

Florida eliminated Tampa Bay in five games, and will play the winner of Ottawa-Toronto. 

Follow Michael on X, Instagram, and Bluesky @MikeInBuffalo

Lost in the sorrow of elimination was that Montreal Canadiens veteran defenseman David Savard played the last game of his career on Wednesday night. As the Habs were getting ready to shake hands with the Washington Capitals, the hulking blueliner was wiping away his tears, not because his team was eliminated, but because it truly was the end of the road for him.

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Canadiens: Season Of Progress Comes To An End
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Speaking to the press after the game, coach Martin St-Louis said:

Our youth wouldn’t be where it is right now without David Savard. It’s been an honor for me to coach that man, a professional who leads by example with all the kids growing up in our culture. He’s not the only one, but I know we won’t have that influence anymore. He was surrounded by excellent vets, the Gally, Dvo, Andy, Matheson, Carrier…We have a damn good group. So, my emotions…of course, it’s a shame the season is over, but I’m so proud of this group.

- St-Louis on Savard and his group.

The saying may be “If you can’t beat them, join them, " but Savard pulled a reverse-Marian Hossa, he beat the Canadiens in the Stanley Cup final in 2021 with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and signed with them as a free agent. Little did he know he was going to have to step right into Shea Weber’s skates, not so much as the player, but as everyone’s dad in a group that became younger in a hurry with Weber, Carey Price, and Paul Byron’s careers almost ending in that last game against Tampa Bay.

He signed a four-year contract with a Cup finalist team, and a few months later, he found himself in a full-blown rebuild. He stuck with it, though, taking everyone under his wing and helping this young defensive core mature.

Drafted in the fourth round by the Columbus Blue Jackets at the 2009 draft, Savard spent 11 years in their organization before being traded to the Lightning at the 2021 trade deadline. He played 14 regular-season games with the Bolts and 20 playoff tilts before raising the holy grail.

Bonne retraite à un leader sans pareil! Nos meilleurs voeux pour la suite, Savy! 🤝

Happy retirement to a leader like no other! Best of luck for the road ahead! pic.twitter.com/fPPOpwMBam

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) May 1, 2025

Over his 15-year career, the shot-blocking machine played 870 games, gathering 54 goals and 188 assists along the way for a total of 242 points and 467 penalty minutes. In 62 playoff games, he put up 17 points and 20 penalty minutes. He wasn’t an offensive defenseman by any stretch of the imagination, but he was a reliable defenseman with an imposing presence you could rely on.

While Savard was understandably sad as he left the ice on Wednesday night, at least he was able to call it a day on his own terms. His decision wasn’t dictated by a career-ending injury like Weber's or contract negotiations that went south like Andrei Markov's.

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If you believe that hockey teams can carry momentum from one game to the next in a Stanley Cup Playoff series, then the Senators might as well set up a proper stall in their locker room for Ol' Man Momentum.

Since Jake Sanderson's overtime goal in Game 4, Big Mo has been on Ottawa's side and will be again on Thursday night – at least to start Game 6 of the Battle of Ontario.

After losing the first three games of the series—two of them in overtime—the Senators have responded nicely, winning each of the past two games, including a 4-0 win in Toronto on Tuesday.

For Ottawa hockey fans, most of whom don't much care for the Leafs, this momentum has restored faith and excitement in the series. So, on Thursday night, Canadian Tire Centre is expected to be, as Brady Tkachuk put it on Tuesday, "pure insanity."

Brady Tkachuk On Thursday's Game 6 Atmosphere in Ottawa: 'I Expect Pure Insanity'In the moments after being announced as one of the game's three stars on Saturday night in Ottawa, Senators captain Brady Tkachuk gestured to centre ice, telling fans the team would be coming back for Game 6.

"This is not just about our team,” Tkachuk said on Thursday. “It's about our city. You could feel the excitement, and we're going to need it tonight. I mean, the amount of energy, pride we get from our fans, this city, it's something that I don't really think they know the impact that they have on our team.

"The season's on the line again tonight, so it's going to be a lot of fun."

For Tkachuk and the Senators, it's been baptism by fire. Their young core is learning all the things that only actual playoff experience can teach. They're getting exposure to a completely different kind of intensity and learning what it takes to succeed in these fierce circumstances when everyone is watching. It will serve them well for the rest of this season, however long it runs, and on into next season and beyond.

Head coach Travis Green shared that view when asked about where the Senators have made their biggest strides in this series.

"A lot of areas,” Green said. “Just the comfortability of playing playoff hockey, the importance of certain parts of the ice. Things you talk about all year that get magnified during playoff hockey. You grow up watching playoff hockey, but until you play it you don't really know where that intensity level gets to until you actually go through it. So probably, if I have to name one area, it would be the intensity part of it."

Toronto faces a different kind of intensity via pressure. As if they didn't already have enough—from being the heavy favourite, or their 58-year Stanley Cup drought, or the fear of being the fifth team in NHL history to blow a 3–0 series lead—now they're having to hear daily about their historical inability to close.

Going back to 2018, they’re now 1–13 in playoff games where a victory would have eliminated their opponent. And in those games, according to NHL.com, the Leafs have gone 0-26 on the power play.

Not only has the Leafs' power play come up empty in the past two games, but they've also given up a short-handed goal in each. That’s the risk teams run when they roll with their five best forwards and defencemen. It often creates extra danger at both ends.

As far as changes go on Thursday, veteran forward Max Pacioretty will slide up to the second line with William Nylander and John Tavares. He takes the place of Pontus Holmberg, who has zero points in the series. So, that's a roster edit that feels like a 'What took you so long?' kind of move.

The Sens aren’t messing with anything. They're hoping to cling to their momentum to force Game 7 and a chance at history on Saturday night.

By Steve Warne
The Hockey News

For more great Senators coverage from The Hockey News, be sure to check out THN.com/Ottawa.

Gaud's Plan: Adam Gaudette's Decision To Sign In Ottawa Works Out PerfectlyAdam Gaudette has quietly been one of the best stories of the Ottawa Senators’ season – a tale of a player struggling to get back to the NHL, joining forces with a team struggling to get back to the NHL playoffs.

ST. PAUL, Minn - The Minnesota Wild is back in action tonight for Game 6 against the Vegas Golden Knights. It is a win or go home situation for the Wild as they look to force a Game 7 back in Vegas with a win tonight. 

The Wild are not expected to make any changes tonight. Head coach John Hynes said this morning that Filip Gustavsson should start tonight. He left Game 5 after the second period with an illness. 

We won't know the lines until warmups but the Wild are expected to roll out the same lineup tonight as Game 5. 

For the Golden Knights, Pavel Dorofeyev will miss tonight's game. Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy said this morning that Dorofeyev is listed as day-to-day. 

Victor Olofsson will come in and replace Dorofeyev in the lineup. He played in the first three games of the series until the Golden Knights decided to play Tanner Pearson for the last two games. He assisted on the Game 5 overtime winner.

Here are tonight's projected lines (subject to change). 

Wild Projected Lines

Kirill Kaprizov - Joel Eriksson Ek - Matt Boldy

Marcus Johansson - Ryan Hartman - Mats Zuccarello

Marcus Foligno - Freddy Gaudreau - Gustav Nyquist

Yakov Trenin - Marco Rossi - Justin Brazeau

Defense:

Jonas Brodin - Brock Faber

Jake Middleton - Jared Spurgeon

Jon Merrill - Zach Bogosian

Starting Goaltender: Filip Gustavsson

Scratched: Declan Chisholm, Devin Shore, Jesper Wallstedt, Liam Ohgren, Vinnie Hinostroza, Zeev Buium.

Injured: None

Black Aces:Hunter Haight, Cameron Crotty, Carson Lambos, Travis Boyd, Brendan Gaunce, Samuel Hlavaj, and Ben Jones. 

Golden Knights Projected Lines

William Karlsson - Jack Eichel - Mark Stone

Brandon Saad - Tomas Hertl - Victor Olofsson

Ivan Barbashev - Nicolas Roy - Reilly Smith

Tanner Pearson - Brett Howden - Keegan Kolesar

Defense:

Brayden McNabb – Shea Theodore

Nicolas Hague - Alex Pietrangelo

Noah Hanifin - Zach Whitecloud

Starting Goaltender: Adin Hill

Scratched: Alexander Holtz, Ben Hutton, Ilya Samsonov, Kaedan Korczak, Cole Schwindt. 

Injured: Pavel Dorofeyev

Make sure you bookmark The Hockey News' Minnesota Wild page for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns and so much more.

Wild Related News

Wild's Filip Gustavsson Expected To Start In Goal For Game 6ST. PAUL, Minn - There was some concern when Filip Gustavsson left Game 5 after the second period with an illness and then to not return to the bench for the rest of the game.  Golden Knights Face Wild For Game 6 Tonight Without Their Top Goal ScorerST. PAUL, Minn - The Vegas Golden Knights will be without its top goal scorer from the regular season. Head coach Bruce Cassidy confirmed this morning that Pavel Dorofeyev will not play tonight. 

The Buffalo Sabres have clear goals in this off-season, including being a better defensive team. But one of the biggest tasks for the Sabres has to be getting a key defenseman locked up under contract for as long as possible.

We’re speaking, of course, of young defenseman and pending RFA Bowen Byram. The 23-year-old is coming off a season in which he set personal-bests in assists (31) and points (38), and Sabres GM Kevyn Adams cannot afford to let Byram get away.

It’s definitely going to be costly to get Byram’s signature on a contract extension. He’s been making $3.85-million for the past three seasons, and a healthy raise will put him in the area of $6-to-$8-million per season. But while that amount of money will carry with it a certain degree of sticker shock for Sabres fans, what’s the alternative here – letting Byram walk away? That would hurt Buffalo more than figuring out how to keep him in a Sabres uniform.

You have to know there will be teams prepared to pay Byram that amount. And considering that the NHL’s salary cap ceiling will rise exponentially in the next few seasons, giving Byram a major raise won’t hurt as much as it would in a flat-cap situation. Most teams are paying quite a bit to keep their top-four defensemen happy, and Byram is definitely a top-four talent on the back end.

For that reason, Adams has to do whatever it takes to keep Byram in the fold. If the Sabres are going to finally take that next competitive step and get into the playoffs next season, they need to have Byram’s dynamic performance working for them. Buffalo ownership can’t let a million dollars here or there be the reason why Byram chooses to play elsewhere, and signs an offer sheet with a different team that drives up his asking price even higher than it’s already projected to go. He’s still not close to his prime, so investing in him now makes a lot of sense.

Sabres Facing An Off-Season Of ChangeThe Buffalo Sabres, at their season-ending press availability, were all singing from the same hymn book, and the song was Bruce Hornsby’s “Gonna Be Some Changes Made”. The questions that will be utmost in the minds of a frustrated fanbase will be what kind of changes, and in the end, will those changes have the desired effect of ending the club’s 14-year playoff drought. 

Byram isn’t a lockdown defensive specialist, but he is a savvy offense-minded D-man whose skill set would be highly-valued by many teams. The Sabres landed a solid talent when they acquired him from the Colorado Avalanche, and now their job is to keep him around for the foreseeable future.

And if they don’t, Sabres management will be rightfully ripped for letting an above-average asset get away.