Ice Chips: Pacioretty joining Nylander and Tavares on Leafs' second line
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Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs are making some changes to their lines, per TSN's Mark Masters.
Veteran winger Max Pacioretty is getting promoted to the second line alongside John Tavares and William Nylander.
Head coach Craig Berube has tried a number of different wingers in that spot throughout the series, failing to find a consistent contributor to play alongside the longtime partners.
Pacioretty spent the most time on the second line with Tavares and Nylander in the regular season, but an injury suffered in practice in February left Pacioretty on the IR until he made his return in Game 3 of this series.
The 17-year-veteran had five goals and 13 points in 37 games this season. In Toronto's 4-0 loss in Game 5, Berube tried four different forwards in Pontus Holmberg, Bobby McMann, Max Domi and Calle Jarnkrok on the second line with Tavares and Nylander at various point, though no winger could generate significant chances in the shutout loss.
The Maple Leafs skated the following lines in practice:
Knies - Matthews - Marner
Pacioretty - Tavares - Nylander
Lorentz - Laughton - Jarnkrok
McMann - Holmberg - Domi
McCabe - Tanev
Rielly - Carlo
Ekman-Larsson - Benoit
Toronto is sticking with Anthony Stolarz in net for Game 6 against the Senators.
Stolarz was in the road net at the Leafs' morning skate on Thursday.
The 31-year-old netminder has a 2.25 goals-against average in five games in this series with an .899 save percentage.
Ottawa Senators
The Ottawa Senators held an optional skate on Thursday, with some key contributors not in attendance.
Per TSN's Claire Hanna, the following players were on the ice:
That left forwards Tim Stutzle, Thomas Chabot, Claude Giroux, Ridly Greig among those not in attendance. Defencemen Nick Jensen, Tyler Kleven and Jake Sanderson were not in attendance, nor was top goaltender Linus Ullmark.
Ottawa plays Game 6 of their series against the Maple Leafs Thursday night at the Canadian Tire Centre. Since falling to a 3-0 series deficit, the Senators have won back-to-back games, including a dominant 4-0 effort in Toronto in Game 5.
Brady Tkachuk was asked by Hanna if the team had played its best hockey yet in the series: “There’s no chance we’re ever going to be complacent with where we’re at. We always want more,” the star forward, who leads the Sens with six points in the series said.
Vegas Golden Knights
Forward Pavel Dorofeyev did not practice on Thursday with the Vegas Golden Knights and will miss Game 6.
Dorofeyev appeared to suffer a leg injury late in Game 5 after taking an awkward fall. The fourth-year player set career highs with 35 goals and 52 points this season.
The team skated the following lines in practice on Thursday:
Karlsson—Eichel—Stone
Saad—Hertl—Olofsson
Barbashev—Roy—Smith
Pearson—Howden—Kolesar
McNabb—Theodore
Hanifin—Whitecloud
Hague—Pietrangelo
Vegas battles the Minnesota Wild in Game 6 of their first-round series in Minnesota on Thursday night.
The Golden Knights can advance to the second round with a victory.
Minnesota Wild
The Wild held an optional skate on Thursday with limited participation, per Joe Smith of The Athletic.
As Smith reports, the only players in attendance were defencemen Devin Shore, Declan Chisholm and Zeev Buium, forwards Vinnie Hinostroza and Liam Ohgren and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.
Top goaltender Filip Gustavsson departed Game 5's 3-2 overtime victory for the Golden Knights after two periods with an illness, but Wild coach John Hynes told reporters Thursday morning that he expects Gustavsson to be ready for Game 6.
Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars will not have Miro Heiskanen in the lineup for Game 6 against the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday, according to TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun.
The defenceman last played January 28 and has been working back from a knee injury that required surgery to repair.
Dallas can eliminate the Avalanche with a victory in Colorado on Thursday, as they enter holding a 3-2 series lead.
Stars head coach Pete DeBoer also said on Thursday that forward Jason Robertson has gone from "week-to-week" with his lower-body injury to "day-to-day."
He adds that Robertson is skating and making progress.
Robertson, 25, was injured in the Stars' regular-season finale against the Nashville Predators. He departed the game early in the second period after he was awkwardly into the boards by Predators forward Michael McCarron. He did not return to the game and he was spotted leaving the arena wearing a brace on his right knee.