The Maple Leafs skated at T-Mobile in Las Vegas on Thursday.
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Gavin McKenna produced the first two points of his NHL career during Toronto’s crazy comeback win over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night. He assisted on a John Tavares goal in the second period before firing home his own goal.
But in the third period, the first overall pick in June’s draft was dropped to the third line and McKenna continued to take reps beside Nick Paul and Colton Sissons on Thursday morning as the Leafs hit the ice at T-Mobile Arena.
“We finished the game that way in Toronto,” explained coach Jim Hiller. “So that’s really the impetus for the move. Just liked how we finished. Obviously it was a good night in the end so why change it.”
Hiller often deployed the third line in a shutdown role during a four-game, season-opening homestand. The Leafs are opening a three-game trip on Thursday night, but Hiller insists the move has nothing to do with sheltering McKenna from tougher matchups.
“For me, trying to build off those guys’ work ethic is going to be a key,” McKenna said. “If we can do that and get on the forecheck, we’ll create.”
Paul has one assist through four games while Sissons has one goal.
“He has a lot of skill,” Paul said of McKenna. “He’s able to make a lot of room so I just try and do the same for him. Sis and I, we know our role of just [playing] hard, create battles, create loose pucks and get it to either Gavin or the point and get to the net, and just creating space. For us, we’re just going to try and make as much space as possible. Biggest thing is not trying to play any way different.”
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Easton Cowan has taken McKenna’s spot on the second line beside John Tavares and William Nylander.
“He started really strong, and then I probably haven’t played him as much,” Hiller acknowledged. “He probably deserved a little bit more ice time. So, we’ll give him another crack. He’ll get a little more tonight, probably with John and Willie. So, we’ll see. We’ll see where he takes it.”
Cowan is tied for third in team scoring with three points, but is eighth in even-strength ice time (14:22) among the team’s forwards.
“He has to be a forechecker,” Hiller instructed. “He has to loosen some pucks up. I think we all have a vision for Easton. He’s an offensive player, for sure, but I think he really can be a guy who provides a little grit on a line: forecheck, track, be above, and just be one of those all-around players. For him to be the most effective in the league, that’s what he’ll turn into.”
Cowan, Tavares and Nylander played together down the stretch last season.
“Tremendously talented,” Tavares said of the sophomore winger. “Just makes so many plays. He wants to be a driver. He wants to be someone who can drive play, make things happen, wants to be extremely competitive and hard to play against and loves the game.”
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Without prompting, Hiller brought up Tavares during Thursday’s media session.
“The one thing I did want to make mention of, because I didn’t after the game, I felt John Tavares had a really good game,” Hiller said. “I just want to speak to his game. The last time out, I think he was 16 for 17 in the face-off [circle], which was very impressive coming off the night before where we lost some important faceoffs at the end of the game.”
Tavares, who has long been among the faceoff leaders in the NHL, lost 13 of 20 draws in Saturday’s 3-2 defeat to the Ottawa Senators.
Hiller had singled out Auston Matthews for praise following Tuesday’s 5-4 win.
“But I really, really want to make the point, I might have missed a little bit just actually how good John was in that game and how important he was for us,” Hiller said.
The 36-year-old centre scored his first goal of the season to start Toronto’s rally from 3-0 down against the Predators.
“He was just really good both ways,” Hiller said. “He made a lot of offensive plays. I didn’t realize that. You go back through it, you can subtly watch and, in some of the plays he made, sometimes it’s in the corner, and you don’t see it. He was really good. He was very determined. When I see 16 out of 17 on the faceoffs, that tells me a guy came in very, very determined.”
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The Leafs started their first trip of the season with a team dinner on Wednesday night.
“I definitely tried some food that I’d never tried before last night and I didn’t mind it at all,” McKenna said.
Such as?
“Well, there was really good chicken parm there,” the 18-year-old from Whitehorse said. “I’ve had chicken parm before, but the cheese was unreal, so that was a good touch.”
McKenna’s first career NHL road game is coming in a pretty cool spot.
“It’s one of my favourite places to play, honestly,” said Matthews of Vegas. “I asked him if he’s ever been to Vegas before and he said he has, but he was 13 so I’m like, ‘It’s probably going to feel a little bit different now.’”
McKenna’s previous trip to Las Vegas came when his family popped by during the summer following a tournament in Los Angeles.
“I remembered it being really hot,” McKenna said with a grin.
The temperature often rises inside T-Mobile Arena during games.
“It’s a great atmosphere, great place to come play,” Matthews said. “We get a lot of support pretty much anywhere we go. But obviously when you come down here, it’s always got a little extra edge to it with the strip and all the stuff that goes on in warm-ups and in the game, all that stuff. They make it really fun. It will be a cool experience for him.”
Matthews scored two goals in his first career game in Vegas where showgirls line the glass in the visitors end during warm-ups.
“I’ve played in a lot of road games in my life before,” McKenna stressed. “So, obviously, it’s different at the NHL level, but nothing new. So I’m just going to try to look at it as another game and just try and have fun out there.”
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Because of the team dinner on Wednesday night, there was no opportunity for longtime Leafs to catch up with old teammate Mitch Marner.
“But saw him a good amount over the summer even though it was extremely short for him,” said Tavares.
Marner led the playoffs in scoring last spring in helping the Golden Knights reach the Stanley Cup Final.
“He was just due,” said Tavares. “I mean, he’s just too good of a hockey player and impacts the game in so many different ways. He’s just very unique, a really special player and the way he thinks the game with and without the puck is as good as any player in the league.”
“Personally, as a friend, I was happy for him,” Matthews said. “We still keep in touch a lot. He’s a great, great person, great teammate and great friend. Personally, I was really happy for him. We stay in touch all the time so it will be nice to see him tonight.”
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McKenna and Marner were among NHLers who skated together in Muskoka ahead of the NHL season.
“He’s a special talent,” said McKenna. “Super smart player, and just fun to watch. And then, yeah, getting to talk to him off the ice a little bit, he’s a really cool dude. Yeah, he was a good guy to meet, and I’m looking forward to playing against him tonight.”
Did the pair talk at all about what it’s like to play in Toronto?
“Ah, no, we didn’t,” McKenna said. “We didn’t talk about that a whole lot. It was more just summer talk. You know, what he’s been up to, what I’ve been up to, and just getting to know each other. I don’t think we want to get too deep into that stuff. You don’t want to go into their personal life. So it was just getting to know him, and he was an awesome guy.”
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Sergei Bobrovsky was in the starter’s net at the skate on Thursday. Since his Florida Panthers lost to the Knights in the 2023 Stanley Cup Final, Bobrovsky has won five straight games against Vegas.
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During recent seasons, the Leafs often posted videos from inside the dressing room following wins as the coach addressed the team and the player-of-the-game belt was handed out.
The belt is still being handed out, but there’s been no videos posted to the team’s social media channels. TSN is told this is the result of an “organizational decision” to give the players, including many newcomers, more space to themselves in the immediate aftermath of games, which will allow chemistry to build organically.
The videos may return at times later in the year.
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Lines at Leafs skate:
Marchenko - Matthews - Roslovic
Cowan - Tavares - Nylander
McKenna - Paul - Sissons
Duhaime - Blueger - Groulx
MacEwen
McCabe - Tanev
Rielly - Raddysh
Ekman-Larsson - Stecher
Blankenburg
Bobrovsky starts
Stolarz
Power play units at skate:
Raddysh
Mathews Marchenko Nylander
Tavares
Rielly
McKenna Paul Roslovic
Cowan