The Toronto Maple Leafs dug themselves out of two separate multi-goal holes Tuesday night, and the result was the kind of chaotic, confidence-boosting win teams remember. Toronto rallied past the Nashville Predators 5-4 in overtime, with Auston Matthews delivering the finish and Gavin McKenna getting his first NHL goal along the way.
Matthews was everywhere by the end of it. He posted a four-point night, capped by the overtime winner with 14 seconds left, while John Tavares, William Nylander and McKenna also scored. Anthony Stolarz made 21 saves on 25 shots as the Leafs survived a wild one at home.
For McKenna, the night marked a personal breakthrough after an early-season stretch that had started to feel loud. He had gone three games without a point, and he joked before the game, "When you're in the Toronto media, putting up zero points in three games, I think you hear about it. Maybe that's my welcome to the NHL."
He heard about it no longer. McKenna finished with a goal and an assist, and the first overall pick looked far more settled than he had in his first three NHL games. He still had a few moments where he tried to force things or hold onto the puck too long, but this was the clearest sign yet that he’s adjusting.
"The first overall pick has looked in his incredibly short career. There are still moments when he's trying to do too much with the puck, or thinks he has more time than he has. But he's evolving and progressing, and it was a matter of time before he broke through on the scoresheet."
After the game, McKenna said, "A big money off the back, that one felt good," and added, "That's a goal I'll obviously remember forever."
Toronto’s night was a study in extremes. The Leafs entered at 1-2-0 and were closing out a four-game homestand before heading west for a three-game trip.
Less than 23 minutes in, they were down 3-0 and staring at another rough result. Then the comeback started to take shape.
Four minutes after Nils Hoglander made it 3-0 in the second period, Toronto had cut the deficit to 3-2. Steven Stamkos pushed Nashville back in front 4-2 at 13:30, but McKenna answered just 61 seconds later to keep the Leafs alive heading into the third.
From there, Toronto took control of the game. Roslovic scored his first goal as a Maple Leaf to tie it at 8:54 of the third, and Matthews finished the job in overtime.
Up to that point, the offense had been grinding through the first three games, with Toronto managing only six goals. Tuesday was the first time the group really looked dangerous in waves.
Matthews was the biggest reason why. He had scored 69 goals in 81 games in 2023-24, then managed 60 goals in 127 games over the next two seasons, which naturally put the spotlight on his health and his production.
He looked sharp in preseason, but the real test came with the regular season. After opening with just one point in three games, he finally had the kind of night that looked much closer to the Matthews the Leafs need.
"I thought he's been really good our whole camp," head coach Jim Hiller said. "He's been working on every puck, but tonight for me, he was a little bit different tonight."
Matthews said the key was simpler than it looked from the outside.
"I don't think it was anything too fancy," said Matthews. "Other than the power-play goal, it was just work, winning battles, finding the open guys and then making plays as well. I thought the second half, we really just simplified our game and just decided not to lose battles, be first on pucks and outcompete the other team."
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