NHL Gives Maple Leafs the Short End of the Stick Once Again if They Win Game 7 to Advance

The Dallas Stars were the latest team to book their ticket to the Conference Finals after downing the Winnipeg Jets in 6 games on Saturday. They now join the Edmonton Oilers and the Carolina Hurricanes, who advanced past the second round on Wednesday and Thursday night, respectively.

The Conference Finals are not set to begin quite yet as the NHL awaits the end of the series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Florida Panthers is set to take place later tonight at Scotiabank Arena at 7:30 PM (EST).

However, after the Stars' overtime victory over the Jets, the NHL officially unveiled their schedules for the Conference Finals that are set to begin on Tuesday night. The unfortunate aspect of the unveiling is that the winner of the Leafs and Panthers series will have a very short turnaround compared to Dallas and Edmonton, who should have been the ones to start on Tuesday.

If the Maple Leafs exorcize their playoff demons and advance to their first Conference Finals berth since 2002, they are set to open the series on home ice on Tuesday night on just 1 day of rest. Conversely, Carolina would have had 4 days of rest.

Looking to the Western Conference, Dallas is set to open their series on home ice on Wednesday night, which affords them 3 days of rest. The Oilers will have had a full week off between games, which at this stage of the season can be such an advantage.

Nevertheless all of this will be moot if the Maple Leafs can't beat the Panthers in their do-or-die matchup. After seeing their 2-0 series lead slip, the Leafs were able to stave off elimination with a convincing 2-0 shutout victory on Friday.

Auston Matthews came up clutch with the game-winning goal and Joseph Woll showed up in yet another elimination game. Head coach Craig Berube will hope that the heroes of Game 6 can show up at least one more time to keep their season alive and book their ticket to the Final Four.