TORONTO — The game was deadlocked with less than 16 minutes to go when the youngest player in the barn took a pass from Auston Matthews on his backhand with his back to the net.
One swift inside pivot inside, three rapid stickhandles and a quick low-glove flick later, Gavin McKenna scored the game-winner. The skid snapper, head up the whole while.
Then the slight teenager in the skinny neckguard cut to the slot, glided on one knee and windmilled an emphatic fist pump, punctuating what felt like the most important victory of this young season and an even younger career.
“Pretty fired up. You know, it’s a hard league to score in. So, when you get to put one in the back of the net, it feels pretty good,” McKenna smiled after the Toronto Maple Leafs’ special teams powered a 3-1 comeback win over the San Jose Sharks Monday.
McKenna has just three career goals but has already popularized his own celebration as he goes through the line: a straight biceps, a hinged elbow and a jaunty bobbing fist.
“That started during training camp, and it’s caught on pretty well,” McKenna said.
Another grin.
You can count the NHL games this kid has played on your hands, but he acts like he’s been here forever. Not unlike his first goal, his third came when the Leafs were begging for one.
“He’s just not afraid of the moment. He enjoys the moment. You saw his celebration, and you could say, ‘Yeah, well, shouldn’t everybody do that?’ There’s lots there. And you have to want to be that big-time player, and that's what he has in spades,” coach Jim Hiller said.
“This high-prospect and this high-skill (reputation), he's worn that for years. And he's just really comfortable with it.”
Veteran teammate Troy Stecher has shared a sheet with a few phenoms in his day. It’s McKenna’s beyond-his-years assuredness that strikes him. Stecher believes that’s a necessary ingredient for success. Don’t defer.
“You look at him: 150 pounds soaking wet. So, he's gonna fill out. You see how good he is at this age, with the stature he has, it’s pretty impressive. Everybody in the room has been very impressed by how he conducts himself on a daily basis, the work that he puts in throughout practice, and working on his little individual skills with Auston on the side before and after practice. So, he’s learned how to be a pro’s pro before becoming a pro,” said Stecher, who explains why so many Leafs teammates encouraged the freshman after Thursday’s controversial benching.
“What everybody in the whole world forgets, except when you play in the NHL, is that every single guy was a Gavin McKenna before they reached the NHL. I ran a power play at North Dakota and won a national championship. I don't think everybody would look at Troy Stecher like, ‘Oh, that's a PP defenceman.’ You know what I mean?
“Everybody in the league has had success at being a top dog somewhere, and that's just the way it goes in the NHL. Sometimes your number’s not going to get called, and it's how you respond.
“I'm sure he wasn't thrilled as an individual player. He was probably pissed off, which anybody would be. They want to be on the ice. He's got a lot of hockey ahead of him. It's just kind of one of those growing experiences, I guess. But I think he handled it very well, and he’s going to continue to get better and better and better.”
McKenna equates clutch to confidence, and the Leafs’ power play has remained lethal when McKenna has subbed in for landlord John Tavares.
“You want to be a guy who’s known for those big moments. When you get that time and an opportunity to be out there on the ice, you want to make the most out of it,” McKenna said.
“So, when you're playing with guys like Auston, Willy, and those guys, I think it just brings confidence in itself. For me, that's something I've taken a lot of passion in — trying to be known as a guy who's able to perform in those situations.”
Were it not for Sergei Bobrovsky’s goaltending, Toronto’s opportunistic power play and perfect 4-for-4 penalty kill, which has now snuffed 21 straight, this night could have ended differently.
San Jose tilted the ice at even-strength and jumped to an early lead when a Matthews D-zone turnover ended up on Mason Marchment’s stick in the slot and behind Bobrovsky.
“It’s on me,” Matthews owned. “Just flush it and move on and focus on the next shift, as hard as that can be sometimes. I mean, just got to play. Mistakes are going to happen, and try to get it back for the team.”
That he did.
Matthews tied the game late in the second period, set McKenna up for the winner, then assisted on Nick Paul’s empty-net insurance. The captain is now tied with Nathan MacKinnon for third in league scoring (16 points).
Better still, he challenged his teammates to bring some emotion, then backed it up with a three-point effort.
“That’s just top to bottom. You know, it's a hard game. Really good, young, skilled team (in San Jose), and I just thought all facets of the game we were really solid,” Matthews said.
“We had to be gutsy to win that game,” Hiller added.
Gutsiness will be required again in less than 24 hours, as the Maple Leafs hopped on a post-win charter bound for Ohio, where they will face Matthew Knies and the Blue Jackets Tuesday.
Anthony Stolarz gets the start for Kirill Marchenko’s first meeting against the team he asked to be traded from.
Marchenko said he wasn’t sure what to expect from the fans who used to cheer him or how he’ll feel when he walks into the visitors’ room at Nationwide Arena.
"I’ll be ready for this game, for sure. It’ll be special night,” the Russian said. “It was good time there, but now it’s new step."
From McKenna’s money-in-the-bank performance to a money-on-the-board revenge game.
“He’s an awesome dude,” McKenna said of Marchenko. “Doesn’t know a lot of English, but he's gelled well in this locker room. So, when you got a guy like that, you want to fight for him.
“On the ice, his performance has been awesome. And obviously this is a big one for him, and we’re all doing it for him.”
Spoken like a pro’s pro.
Fox’s Fast Five
• McKenna’s stat line: one game-winning goal on one shot, even, two giveaways, 11:30.
Stenberg’s stat line: one shot, 0-for-2 faceoffs, minus-1, two giveaways, 14:27.
“I was pretty sure I would not go first overall,” Stenberg told The Mercury News ahead of the one-two showdown. "I didn’t have good meetings with Toronto and didn’t feel like it was the team for me.
“You kind of feel when a team wants you or not, or how interested they are. You get a feeling, and I think that feeling was pretty (accurate).”
• Bit of a curveball to see Easton Cowan promoted to Matthews’ wing, as the sophomore didn’t take reps with that line at morning skate.
But Hiller wanted Matthews to hard-match against Macklin Celebrini’s line and wasn’t sure how much energy William Nylander would have playing with an illness.
Cowan ranks third on the team with six even-strength points, behind only Matthews and Nylander.
Hiller stated that he would lean on the 21-year-old even more with John Tavares injured. The coach believes the McKenna hype train has allowed Cowan’s growth to fly under the radar.
“Maybe that’s helped him,” Hiller wonders. “He’s getting all scenarios, and he’s earned them. And I’ll tell you about him. I talked to him this summer and then in training camp and I said, ‘Are you ready?’ And he said, ‘Yes, I’m ready for this. I can do this.’
“He has answered the bell at every turn. It’s just great to see, and we’ll see where he goes.”
• Interesting Twitter comment from Nikita Zadorov’s agent, Dan Milstein, regarding the bruising defenceman’s recent healthy scratch in Boston:
Milstein represents three players in Toronto, most notably Kirill Marchenko, whose trade-and-sign out of Columbus he helped facilitate.
Could the Leafs use a nasty, six-foot-five, 230-pound blueliner? No doubt. Former GM Brad Treliving tried to acquire Zadorov when he was in Calgary.
But Zadorov, 31, is signed through 2029-30 with the Bruins at a $5-million cap hit, and we can’t see Boston being all too eager to get rid of him.
For now, we’re chalking this up to a vocal agent publicly backing a client who was disappointed with a scratch.
• Matthews’ scouting report on fellow first-overall draftee Celebrini: “Just gets better and better every year. His IQ stands out. The pace of play that he plays with and very competitive on pucks. He’s strong in battles. He comes out of those 50/50 battles with the puck most of the time, and that’s kind of just stuff you can’t really teach. I think it’s like a mindset, and he’s definitely got it.”
• Oakville’s own Michael Misa, 2025’s second-overall pick, was jacked up to play his first game at Scotiabank Arena.
“It’s pretty surreal just going on the ice for morning skate and looking around,” the 19-year-old said. “Cool to be back and looking at the seats I used to sit in when I’d come to watch the games. It’s a pretty surreal feeling.”
Misa invited some 20 Toronto-based friends and family members to root on the Sharks.
Playing for free?
“I’m paying,” he admitted. “But I only see them one time a year, so thought it was the right thing to do.”
1:13
