Sergei Bobrovsky says the awkward moment that cut into Gavin McKenna’s rookie lap was nothing more than a brain lapse.
On the night of McKenna’s Maple Leafs debut, the rookie was supposed to skate out alone for his traditional first-game lap. Instead, Bobrovsky was the first player on the ice, and the planned moment got thrown off.
David Alter of The Hockey News relayed Bobrovsky’s explanation on Friday, and the goaltender didn’t try to dress it up. “I just completely forgot.
I didn’t think about it. I completely forgot.
I came to him and I also told him. So I pretended that it was my first game too jokes.
But no, I didn’t mean to do that. So it just happened by incident (accident).”
Bobrovsky made it clear he wasn’t trying to make a statement or pull rank on the rookie. The timing created a messy-looking moment, but he said there was no intent behind it. He also pushed back on the idea that it had anything to do with superstition or with getting his way after taking the jersey number they both wore before the season started.
Still, the sequence did take some shine off McKenna’s big night. A rookie debut is already a major moment, and in Toronto, where McKenna is the first overall pick, every detail gets magnified.
For Bobrovsky, though, this sounds like a mistake that’s already been smoothed over. His comments suggest there’s no bad blood, just a veteran owning a slip and laughing it off. That leaves McKenna to move on to the games ahead, while Bobrovsky gets to live with a story that figures to follow him all season.
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