Gavin McKenna scored his first NHL goal on Tuesday night, four games into a career that Toronto’s media had already spent a week scrutinizing. The more entertaining part came afterwards, when he started explaining how the Toronto Maple Leafs‘ veterans have been looking after him.
“And then with Auston, we had a little sleepover on Sunday, so we might have to have a weekly sleepover now,” McKenna said, per theScore.
The 18-year-old was referring to Auston Matthews, the Maple Leafs captain, 29 years old and seven times a 40-goal scorer. The two spent the evening eating sandwiches and watching football.
Who does Gavin McKenna live with?
Matthews isn’t even the teammate he sees most. McKenna is currently living with John Tavares, who at 36 has been in the league since before McKenna started school, and he credited both of them with easing his arrival.
“They’ve been awesome,” McKenna said.
Both men also had a hand in his breakthrough night. McKenna’s first NHL point came on a primary assist to a Tavares goal around five minutes into the second period. Roughly ten minutes later, he took a feed from Matthews and went top shelf over Juuse Saros to cut Nashville’s lead to 4-3.
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That produced one of the more unusual statistical notes of the season. McKenna is only the second player in NHL history to record his first point on a goal scored by a former first overall pick and his first goal assisted by another former first overall pick, as a first overall pick himself.
He’s also the first 18-year-old to score for Toronto since Luke Richardson in 1987.
The relief was evident afterwards.
“A big monkey off the back,” McKenna said of the goal. “Once you get that first one, I think your confidence goes up from there.”
Matthews finished with four points and scored the winner with 14 seconds left in overtime for a 5-4 Toronto victory.
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