Gavin McKenna watched overtime from the bench last night in Las Vegas, and Jim Hiller says the teenager's turn is coming.
The Maple Leafs fell 4-3 to Vegas in a shootout. Hiller said the rookie's name was called in OT, but it just didn't work out situationally.
His verdict? Just a matter of time, which is a tidy answer for a coach and a frustrating one for Leafs fans.
McKenna picked up an assist in 14:08 of ice time. He also took a minor penalty, and coaches have long memories in tie games.
Easton Cowan offers the cleanest comparison. The 21-year-old scored and fired four shots in exactly 14 minutes, almost identical usage to the rookie's.
Here's where Hiller loses me. In overtime, you want your most creative puck carrier on the ice, and parking an 18-year-old with that skill set on the bench is the wrong call.
It's like buying a sports car and only ever driving it to the grocery store.
Sergei Bobrovsky dragged the Maple Leafs to a point in Vegas
Vegas peppered Sergei Bobrovsky with 43 shots, and he turned aside 40 of them before the shootout.
Toronto mustered just 24 on Adin Hill. That kind of gap catches up with a team eventually, shootout lottery or not.
Jack Eichel drove the Vegas attack with a goal, an assist and six shots. The Maple Leafs never found an answer for him.
William Nylander put five shots on net and came away with nothing on the scoresheet.
John Tavares had a rougher night. He went minus-2 and now sits at minus-4 on the season.
Nick Paul and Jack Roslovic joined Cowan with regulation goals, so the depth did its part.
As for the kid, he has three points through five games. That's real production for a $1,075,000 cap hit, and Hiller clearly trusts him in regulation.
The Leafs sit at 2-2-1 with a minus-1 goal differential. Not a crisis. Not comfortable either.
They already won one in extra time, edging Nashville 5-4 on Tuesday.
The blue line is a question mark. Oliver Ekman-Larsson is day-to-day with an undisclosed issue after taking four penalty minutes in Vegas.
The road trip rolls into Colorado on Saturday, then Utah on Tuesday. Vegas doesn't visit Toronto until Dec. 12, so this one will sit for a while.
If Saturday's game goes past 60 minutes, Hiller's promise gets its first real test. Will the kid actually hop over the boards this time?
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Should Jim Hiller put Gavin McKenna on the ice in the next Maple Leafs overtime?
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