{"id":939996,"date":"2026-10-20T11:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T11:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/939996\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T11:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T11:48:09","slug":"big-time-player-mckenna-helps-maple-leafs-snap-skid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/939996\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Big-time player\u2019 McKenna helps Maple Leafs snap skid"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 The game was deadlocked with less than 16 minutes to go when the youngest player in the barn took a pass from Auston Matthews<\/a> on his backhand with his back to the net.<\/p>\n

One swift inside pivot inside, three rapid stickhandles and a quick low-glove flick later, Gavin McKenna<\/a> scored the game-winner. The skid snapper, head up the whole while.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cPretty fired up. You know, it\u2019s a hard league to score in. So, when you get to put one in the back of the net, it feels pretty good,\u201d McKenna smiled after the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a>\u2019 special teams powered a 3-1 comeback win over the San Jose Sharks Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat started during training camp, and it\u2019s caught on pretty well,\u201d McKenna said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You can count the NHL games this kid has played on your hands, but he acts like he\u2019s been here forever. Not unlike his first goal, his third came when the Leafs were begging for one.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just not afraid of the moment. He enjoys the moment. You saw his celebration, and you could say, \u2018Yeah, well, shouldn\u2019t everybody do that?\u2019 There\u2019s lots there. And you have to want to be that big-time player, and that’s what he has in spades,\u201d coach Jim Hiller said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis high-prospect and this high-skill (reputation), he’s worn that for years. And he’s just really comfortable with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Veteran teammate Troy Stecher<\/a> has shared a sheet with a few phenoms in his day. It\u2019s McKenna\u2019s beyond-his-years assuredness that strikes him. Stecher believes that\u2019s a necessary ingredient for success. Don\u2019t defer.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou 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\u2019s 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\u2019s learned how to be a pro\u2019s pro before becoming a pro,\u201d said Stecher, who explains why so many Leafs teammates encouraged the freshman<\/a>\u00a0after Thursday\u2019s controversial benching.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat 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, \u2018Oh, that’s a PP defenceman.\u2019 You know what I mean?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody 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\u2019s not going to get called, and it’s how you respond.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’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\u2019s going to continue to get better and better and better.\u201d<\/p>\n

McKenna equates clutch to confidence, and the Leafs\u2019 power play has remained lethal when McKenna has subbed in for landlord John Tavares<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to be a guy who\u2019s 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,\u201d McKenna said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, 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 \u2014 trying to be known as a guy who’s able to perform in those situations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Were it not for Sergei Bobrovsky<\/a>\u2019s goaltending, Toronto\u2019s opportunistic power play and perfect 4-for-4 penalty kill, which has now snuffed 21 straight, this night could have ended differently.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u2019s stick in the slot and behind Bobrovsky.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s on me,\u201d Matthews owned. \u201cJust 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthews tied the game late in the second period, set McKenna up for the winner, then assisted on Nick Paul\u2019s empty-net insurance. The captain is now tied with Nathan MacKinnon for third in league scoring (16 points).<\/p>\n

Better still, he challenged his teammates to bring some emotion, then backed it up with a three-point effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s 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,\u201d Matthews said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to be gutsy to win that game,\u201d Hiller added.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Anthony Stolarz gets the start for Kirill Marchenko<\/a>\u2019s first meeting against the team he asked to be traded from.<\/p>\n

Marchenko said he wasn\u2019t sure what to expect from the fans who used to cheer him or how he\u2019ll feel when he walks into the visitors\u2019 room at Nationwide Arena.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ll be ready for this game, for sure. It\u2019ll be special night,\u201d the Russian said. \u201cIt was good time there, but now it\u2019s new step.”<\/p>\n

From McKenna\u2019s money-in-the-bank performance to a money-on-the-board revenge game.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s an awesome dude,\u201d McKenna said of Marchenko. \u201cDoesn\u2019t 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the ice, his performance has been awesome. And obviously this is a big one for him, and we\u2019re all doing it for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spoken like a pro\u2019s pro.<\/p>\n

\u2022 McKenna\u2019s stat line: one game-winning goal on one shot, even, two giveaways, 11:30.<\/p>\n

Stenberg\u2019s stat line: one shot, 0-for-2 faceoffs, minus-1, two giveaways, 14:27.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was pretty sure I would not go first overall,\u201d Stenberg told The Mercury News<\/a> ahead of the one-two showdown. “I didn\u2019t have good meetings with Toronto and didn\u2019t feel like it was the team for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou 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).\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Bit of a curveball to see Easton Cowan<\/a> promoted to Matthews\u2019 wing, as the sophomore didn\u2019t take reps with that line at morning skate.<\/p>\n

Cowan ranks third on the team with six even-strength points, behind only Matthews and Nylander.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u2019s growth<\/a>\u00a0to fly under the radar.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe that\u2019s helped him,\u201d Hiller wonders. \u201cHe\u2019s getting all scenarios, and he\u2019s earned them. And I\u2019ll tell you about him. I talked to him this summer and then in training camp and I said, \u2018Are you ready?\u2019 And he said, \u2018Yes, I\u2019m ready for this. I can do this.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has answered the bell at every turn. It\u2019s just great to see, and we\u2019ll see where he goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Interesting Twitter comment from Nikita Zadorov<\/a>\u2019s agent, Dan Milstein, regarding the bruising defenceman\u2019s recent healthy scratch in Boston:<\/p>\n

Milstein represents three players in Toronto, most notably Kirill Marchenko, whose trade-and-sign out of Columbus he helped facilitate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

But Zadorov, 31, is signed through 2029-30 with the Bruins at a $5-million cap hit, and we can\u2019t see Boston being all too eager to get rid of him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For now, we\u2019re chalking this up to a vocal agent publicly backing a client who was disappointed with a scratch.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Matthews\u2019 scouting report on fellow first-overall draftee Celebrini: \u201cJust gets better and better every year. His IQ stands out. The pace of play that he plays with and very competitive on pucks. He\u2019s strong in battles. He comes out of those 50\/50 battles with the puck most of the time, and that\u2019s kind of just stuff you can\u2019t really teach. I think it\u2019s like a mindset, and he\u2019s definitely got it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Oakville\u2019s own Michael Misa, 2025\u2019s second-overall pick, was jacked up to play his first game at Scotiabank Arena.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty surreal just going on the ice for morning skate and looking around,\u201d the 19-year-old said. \u201cCool to be back and looking at the seats I used to sit in when I\u2019d come to watch the games. It\u2019s a pretty surreal feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Misa invited some 20 Toronto-based friends and family members to root on the Sharks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m paying,\u201d he admitted. \u201cBut I only see them one time a year, so thought it was the right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 The game was deadlocked with less than 16 minutes to go when the youngest player in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":939997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,48,82],"class_list":["post-939996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=939996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/939997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=939996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=939996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=939996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}