Sergei Bobrovsky faces fierce criticism for his unacceptable behavior toward Gavin McKenna.

Sergei Bobrovsky is taking heat from Maple Leafs fans after stepping onto the ice before Gavin McKenna could take his rookie lap.

It happened last night, in the first overall pick's NHL debut. That moment was supposed to belong to one player alone.

The rookie lap is one of the league's great little traditions. A first-game player skates out solo while his teammates hold back and let the building have him.

This time the veteran goalie came out first. McKenna never got that empty sheet of ice to himself.

Nobody has explained whether it was a lapse or something more. One widely shared post didn't wait for answers: "Sergei Bobrovsky = bad teammate."

In the clip, the goalie heads out onto the ice ahead of the rookie, taking the solo moment before McKenna ever gets it.

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An .877 season leaves the Leafs goalie little goodwill to spare

Bobrovsky's standing with this fan base wasn't strong to begin with. He closed last season in Florida with an .877 save percentage over 52 games.

That's a steep fall from 2023-24, when he posted 36 wins and a .915 across 58 games.

Some fans shrug the lap off as noise. Others see an attitude problem, and a 38-year-old goalie doesn't get much slack in this market.

Whether he meant it or not, it was a bad look. A goalie with 806 NHL games and 456 wins has seen enough debuts to know when to hang back in the tunnel.

It's like the best man grabbing the mic for the first toast before the couple even walks into the room.

For McKenna, it's a strange first memory in a Leafs sweater. A player only gets one first game, and that lap never comes back around.

Jim Hiller's group hosts the Islanders tonight. The next time Bobrovsky takes the ice at home, the crowd will let him know exactly how it went over.

The easy fix is a public word to the rookie. Whether a veteran with nothing left to prove thinks he owes one is the question hanging over the Toronto crease.

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