McKenna Leads Maple Leafs Past Sharks in Toronto

Toronto ended its three-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks at Scotiabank Arena on Monday, as Gavin McKenna scored the decisive goal in the third period. The Toronto Maple Leafs secured the win through McKenna's first NHL power-play goal and a three-point performance from Auston Matthews.

McKenna put Toronto ahead 2-1 at 4:56 of the third period after collecting the puck near the bottom of the right face-off circle. He maneuvered into the slot before beating Sharks goaltender Yaroslav Askarov with a wrist shot to the glove side.

McKenna described the sequence as a collective effort that created the opening for his decisive shot.

"That's a huge night for the group," McKenna said. "That whole shift, the puck was bouncing around, and a lot of battle wins from the guys, and had a little bit of time and space in front. Shot low glove and it went in. (I was) pretty fired up."

The goal also decided the first NHL meeting between McKenna, the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, and Ivar Stenberg, whom San Jose selected with the No. 2 pick. Stenberg finished with a minus-1 rating and one shot on goal in 14:27 of ice time.

Before the matchup, McKenna emphasized the importance of the team result over his individual contest with Stenberg.

"Obviously, a lot of talk between us and he is a good player," McKenna said before the game about facing Stenberg. "He's having a good start to the year, but at the end of the day, I don't really go out thinking it's McKenna versus Stenberg. It's Leafs versus the Sharks. It's a team game so I'm looking forward to playing against them."

Matthews contributed one goal and two assists for Toronto (4-4-2), which finished its losing streak at three games with a record of 0-2-1 during that stretch. Nick Paul also scored, while Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 30 shots to earn his first home victory with the Maple Leafs.

Toronto coach Jim Hiller credited the team's persistence and its work at even strength during the first two periods.

"I thought we stuck with it. I thought we had some really good chances through 40 minutes at even strength, and Askarov made some good saves," Hiller said. "I thought we did a really good job just staying and going forward today."

San Jose opened the scoring at 13:54 of the first period when Mason Marchment redirected Tyler Toffoli's play into a backhand finish over Bobrovsky's left pad. Matthews tied the game at 19:48 of the second period with a power-play one-timer from the left circle after receiving a pass from Kirill Marchenko behind the net.

Marchment explained how Toffoli's effort to keep the puck in the offensive zone created his scoring opportunity.

"I just saw (Toffoli) keeping it in. I just tried to stay under him and made a great play through everyone," Marchment said. "It was just a quick move and nice to get it by him."

Matthews highlighted Toronto's overall performance and Bobrovsky's contribution after the victory.

"I think that's just top to bottom, hard game, really good young skilled game, and I just thought all facets of the game we were really solid. Bob was great again," Matthews said.

Paul sealed the 3-1 result with an empty-net goal at 19:20 of the third period. He raced down the right wing and scored from the top of the circle.

San Jose fell to 4-4-1 and has gone 1-3-1 over its past five games. Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said the team continued to create opportunities but needed greater consistency in its play.

"I think we're all right. We know we can feel it. We're not scoring right now.

We're getting some good looks. We got some good chances," Warsofsky said. "I thought 'Bob' played really well, but there are still some consistency issues in our game, just all over with the puck and without it."

The Sharks are 1-1-1 on their current six-game road trip and are scheduled to face the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday in the second game of a back-to-back. San Jose forward Alexander Wennberg briefly left Monday's game in the third period before returning, with Warsofsky identifying an upper-body injury as the reason he did not play during the closing minutes.