Toronto Maple Leafs coach Jim Hiller owned the call after Gavin McKenna barely saw the ice in Thursday’s 5-4 overtime loss to the Buffalo Sabres.
McKenna, the NHL rookie, logged just 6:36 and never came back after 10:20 of the second period. He stayed on the bench for the rest of regulation and overtime, even as Toronto’s two-goal lead slipped away.
Hiller said penalties disrupted the forward’s night, but he didn’t hide from the fact that he should have managed it differently.
“That was my decision,” Hiller told reporters after the game. “… We went for a stretch - had those penalties.
Wanted to get him out there. He sat for so long and he sits through the intermission.
Probably should’ve gotten him out at the start of the third. I’ll talk to him about that.”
He later expanded on the thinking, pointing to the long gap between shifts.
“The big thing is the penalties,” Hiller explained. “He doesn’t get to play, we get into the [intermission], now he hasn’t played for 30 some odd minutes. We talked about getting him out in the third & then I guess it didn’t just happen, but that’s on me.”
"That was my decision… I probably should have gotten him out there early in the third."
Jim Hiller addresses Gavin McKenna's ice time in the Maple Leafs' OT loss to the Sabres. pic.twitter.com/sLOJJUeIGx
- Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 16, 2026
The benching became part of a much bigger mess for Toronto after it coughed up a 4-2 lead late in the second period. Kirill Marchenko scored a hat trick for the Maple Leafs, but Buffalo answered with two goals in the third to force overtime.
Dennis Gilbert and Mattias Samuelsson did the damage in the comeback, and Owen Power finished it off at 3:14 of overtime.
Toronto also lost John Tavares to an injury early in the third after he collided with Buffalo forward Josh Norris.
By the end, Hiller’s management of the bench was under the microscope along with everything else from a collapse that turned a promising position into a damaging loss. He said he’ll speak with McKenna about the decision, and his comments made clear the rookie’s absence was tied to the flow of the game rather than any disciplinary issue.
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