Gavin McKenna, the first pick in the June draft, scored his first NHL goal against the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night at Scotiabank Arena. His goal helped the Toronto Maple Leafs come back from deficits to win 5-4 in overtime when Auston Matthews scored. McKenna’s achievement was celebrated as a breakthrough moment after being pointless in three games previously. The game also saw Jack Roslovic score his first goal as a Leaf, tying the game at 4-4 late in the third period.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-07,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
On Tuesday night, Gavin McKenna, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NHL draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs, scored his first professional goal against the Nashville Predators during his fourth career game. The 18-year-old from Whitehorse also added an assist for his first NHL point. McKenna's goal came off a pass from Auston Matthews, who then scored in overtime to secure a 5-4 victory for Toronto at Scotiabank Arena. This win helped the Maple Leafs recover from an early three-goal deficit and marked their debut after significant offseason changes that included acquiring new players like Sergei Bobrovsky and Kirill Marchenko.
Written for “Gavin McKenna Nhl Debut” on 2026-10-07,
grounded in this article and the 4 other(s) covering the same event.
The Maple Leafs rookie finally had the kind of offensive night predicted for him, and Auston Matthews scored in overtime to beat the Nashville Predators 5-4 on Tuesday night at Scotiabank Arena.
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Matthews → have → Arena
McKenna, the first pick in the June draft, broke his points goose egg in pedestrian style.
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McKenna → break → style
Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz corralled the puck behind his net and cleared it up the side to McKenna, who tapped it to Tavares in full stride inside the Toronto blue line.
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who → corral → line
The Leafs veteran found some speed through the neutral zone down the wing and fired a wrist shot that eluded Predators netminder Juuse Saros from 28 feet.
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that → find → feet
A few plays later, forward Kirill Marchenko went for an early line change while Matthews battled in the Nashville corner.
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Matthews → go → corner
By the time Matthews had emerged with the puck, McKenna was in place.
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McKenna → emerge → place
Matthews’ pass went to McKenna’s stick.
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pass → go → stick
A quick readjustment changed the angle and McKenna let rip a wrist shot, beating Saros from 32 feet away at 74.1 miles an hour.
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McKenna → change → miles
“That one felt good,” McKenna said after the game.
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McKenna → feel → game
“That’s a goal, obviously, I’ll remember forever.”
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I → ’ → ?
The game was a better “welcome to the NHL” moment than he’d spoken of earlier in the day.
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he → speak → day
“When you’re in the Toronto media, putting up zero points in three games, I think you hear about maybe that’s my welcome to the NHL,” he said after the morning skate.
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he → ’re → skate
But he didn’t let the chatter get him down.
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chatter → let → him
He just worked on his game.
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He → work → game
“It’s a tough league and there’s not a whole lot of time and space out there,” said McKenna.
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McKenna → ’ → time
“When you get those chances to find the middle of the ice, they don’t come very often, so you’ve got to make sure you’re there and you’re ready when you get that chance.”
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you → get → chance
The rookie helped the Leafs rally from 3-0 and 4-2 deficits against a Predators team that was led by two goals from Steven Stamkos.
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that → help → Stamkos
Jack Roslovic also scored his first goal as a Leaf, tying the game 4-4 halfway through the third.
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Roslovic → score → third
It raised a few eyebrows when Stolarz got the start in net for the second time in four games, their only wins, with Sergei Bobrovsky starting the other two.
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Bobrovsky → raise → two
The thinking appears to be to give the veteran goalies ample rest.
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thinking → appear → rest
It might be more of a tandem, although no announcement has been made.
uncertain
announcement → make → tandem
Perhaps resting the 38-year-old Bobrovsky is the way to get more value out of him at $7 million a year.
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resting → rest → million
“We’ve mapped it out,” said head coach Jim Hiller.
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Hiller → map → it
“We’ll leave you to guess.
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We → leave → you
Workloads, analytics, there’s lots of different things that go into it.
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that → ’ → it
We have people working on it.”
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We → have → it
Leafs notes
The Predators had three ex-Leafs in their lineup: Alex Kerfoot, Ryan O’Reilly and Ilya Lyubushkin …
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Predators → have → lineup
The Leafs start a three-game road trip Thursday night against Mitch Marner and the Golden Knights in Las Vegas …
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Leafs → start → Vegas
Defenceman Nick Blankenburg is the only Leaf yet to see game action …
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Blankenburg → see → action
Matthews (439) passed Bill Guerin for sole possession of ninth place in career goals among U.S.-born skaters.
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Matthews → pass → skaters
The Aporia
