- Gavin McKenna scored twice for his first two-goal game in the NHL
- He is the youngest Maple Leafs player with a multi-goal game since 1944
- Read below for the video of both goals and what happened late in Seattle
Gavin McKenna just had the best night of his young NHL career, even if the Maple Leafs walked away with nothing to show for it.
The No. 1 pick scored twice on the power play Wednesday in Seattle, giving him his first two-goal game and his first three-point game. At 18 years and 312 days old, he is the youngest Leafs player to score multiple goals in a game since Jack Hamilton did it in February 1944.
Toronto still lost 5-4. Brandon Montour scored from the top of the right circle with 32.7 seconds left to give the Kraken the win.
Watch both McKenna goals in the NHL’s video:
McKenna tied the game 1-1 with 46 seconds left in the first period, snapping Auston Matthews’ pass off the far post and in from the right dot. He tied it again 2-2 early in the second, one-timing a no-look pass from Matthews out of the slot.
The night came a few hours after the Leafs moved him up to Matthews’ line, which we covered in our McKenna promotion story. Matthews had a goal and two assists himself, and the pair clicked right away.
McKenna also helped set up Matthews’ tying goal with 1:30 left and Sergei Bobrovsky on the bench for the extra attacker. Montour answered with the winner before overtime.
The numbers around the performance are strong. McKenna now has five goals and 11 points in 15 games. The NHL’s public relations team broke down how rare that pace is for a teenager in Toronto:
He is one of three teenage Leafs in the past 40 years to hit 10 career points in 15 games or fewer, along with Matthews and Mitch Marner. He also became the sixth 18-year-old to score four career goals for Toronto in the expansion era, the first since Luke Richardson in 1987-88.
The Leafs fell to 7-6-2 and dropped their second straight after winning four in a row. Seattle improved to 8-4-1.
