Gavin McKenna scored twice on the power play last night in Seattle. The Maple Leafs still left town with a 5-4 loss.
The 18-year-old added an assist and three shots in 15:33 of ice time. He's still three years shy of ordering a beer in Washington State.
History caught up fast. He became the third 18-year-old Leaf in 80 years to score multiple goals in a game, joining Vincent Damphousse and Wendel Clark.
Then he went further back. Nobody that young had posted a three-point night for Toronto since Ted Kennedy on March 5, 1944.
Auston Matthews was right there with him, scoring once and setting up two power-play goals across 20:08. He now sits at 23 points through 15 games.
And none of it mattered. Sergei Bobrovsky faced 17 shots and let five of them in.
Toronto outshot the Kraken by four and still lost. The blame lands squarely in the crease.
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Jim Hiller's goalie call in Vancouver just got a lot louder
Bobrovsky's season save percentage sits at .885 across 10 games. He has three wins to show for it.
Anthony Stolarz owns a .907 mark in five appearances, with three wins of his own. Same win total. Half the workload.
Jim Hiller has to give Stolarz the net Saturday in Vancouver. Riding the 38-year-old after a night like this is a bad bet, and the numbers aren't close.
Think of a band whose lead singer hits every note while the drummer keeps losing the beat. The crowd notices. So does whoever books the next show.
The road trip has turned sour. Toronto opened with a 7-2 win in Edmonton last Saturday, then dropped a 5-2 decision in Calgary on Monday.
That's two straight losses and a 7-6-2 record, good for fifth in the Atlantic. The Leafs are allowing 3.4 goals per game.
So how many nights like this can a team waste before it costs them in April?
Brandon Montour scored the winner for Seattle while logging 27:10. Philipp Grubauer gave up four goals on 21 shots, and still outplayed the guy at the other end.
Toronto needs this kind of offense more than ever with John Tavares on injured reserve. His lower-body injury is expected to keep him out until at least November 27.
Chris Tanev is also on IR with an upper-body issue, expected out until at least October 31. That's Saturday, so his status for Vancouver bears watching.
The rookie's season line tells a split story. He has 11 points in 15 games, but carries a -6 rating.
At a $1,075,000 cap hit, McKenna is a steal. Matthews costs $13,250,000, and last night they produced the exact same three points.
Vancouver sits 32nd in the league heading into Saturday. If Toronto loses there with the crease question still open, the kid's history night will feel like a long time ago.
Should Jim Hiller start Anthony Stolarz over Sergei Bobrovsky Saturday in Vancouver?
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