Gavin McKenna’s first NHL goal finally arrived Tuesday night, and it came in a spot the Toronto Maple Leafs desperately needed it.
Trailing the Nashville Predators 4-2 in the second period, the rookie found soft ice in the slot and made it count. Auston Matthews won a puck battle from Predators forward Steven Stamkos along the boards, slid the puck to McKenna, and the 18-year-old ripped it past Juuse Saros to trim the deficit to one.
For McKenna, the goal capped a night that had already produced his first NHL point. Earlier in the period, after Toronto had fallen behind 3-0, he set up John Tavares for his first goal of the season.
That assist put McKenna in rare company. He became the youngest Maple Leaf to record his first point with the team since Drake Berehowsky did it on Oct.
10, 1990. McKenna is 10 days younger than Berehowsky was when he got on the board.
The goal also pushed McKenna onto another notable list: he is the ninth-youngest Leaf to score his first NHL goal, alongside names such as Ted Kennedy, Al Iafrate and Russ Courtnall.
The pressure has been there from the start. McKenna entered the league as the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, and after three games this season without a point, some doubters had started to wonder if he was ready for the jump. But the résumé that made him the top pick was never in doubt, with his work in junior and college backing up the hype.
And for Toronto, there’s an added layer to the story. McKenna is being counted on as part of the push to help turn around an Original Six franchise that just went through a brutal 2025-26 season, finishing last in the Atlantic Division and missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in a decade.
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Predators Blow 3-0 Lead In Early Road Test Of Their Identity
The Predators first road game of the 2026-27 season offered an early look at who they want to be, and for a long stretch in Toronto, the answer seemed promising. Steven Stamkos scored twice to give Nashville a big edge, and the game had the kind of pace and back-and-forth feel that can tell you plenty about a team in October, especially on a night when both sides found ways to answer.
Then the pressure turned up, the Leafs kept pushing, and the game became a test of Nashvilles ability to finish what it started. The lead slipped away amid the late chaos, Toronto eventually forced overtime, and Auston Matthews finished it off after a sequence that left the Predators with more questions than points on a night full of notable performances. [Read more 🡒]