Gavin McKenna's First NHL Goal Fuels Wild Leafs Comeback Win

The 2026 No. 1 overall pick is officially on the board. Gavin McKenna scored his first NHL goal on Tuesday night, and the 18-year-old's milestone could not have arrived at a better moment: the Toronto Maple Leafs had just watched Steven Stamkos push Nashville's lead back to two goals, and the home crowd was going quiet. Sixty-one seconds later, the rookie answered with his first NHL goal — and Toronto went on to erase a three-goal deficit entirely, stunning the Nashville Predators 5-4 on Auston Matthews' overtime winner with 14 seconds left, according to the Associated Press.

McKenna finished the night with a goal and an assist for his first multi-point game in four NHL outings, as reported by Field Level Media. He had already picked up his first NHL point earlier in the night with an assist on John Tavares' goal, so the teenager checked off two career firsts before the second intermission. For a franchise that has been waiting on a generational talent to take the torch, watching the top draft pick score his first NHL goal during a comeback win felt like a statement.

The comeback itself was pure chaos. Stamkos opened the scoring on a first-period power play, Nils Hoglander added two goals, and Nashville carried a 3-0 lead into the second period. Tavares got Toronto going at 4:56 of the middle frame, William Nylander cut it to 3-2 on the power play at 6:58, and when Stamkos struck again at 13:30 to restore the two-goal cushion, the night seemed lost for the Leafs. Then came McKenna's first NHL goal, Jack Roslovic tied it at 8:54 of the third, and Matthews buried a Nylander rebound in overtime to complete the rally, according to the Associated Press.

Breaking Down McKenna's First NHL Goal

Timing is everything, and the teenager's first NHL goal was timed perfectly. Toronto had just fallen behind 4-2 on Stamkos' second of the night, a shot over Anthony Stolarz's glove from the top of the right circle. Before the Predators could settle in with the two-goal lead again, McKenna struck back barely a minute later, flipping the momentum in a building that had been ready to turn on its team. It was the kind of answer you expect from a veteran, not from an 18-year-old playing his fourth professional game.

Matthews, meanwhile, quietly had one of the best nights of his career: a goal and three assists for four points. As reported by Field Level Media, his overtime winner also pushed him past Bill Guerin into ninth place for most goals by United States-born skaters, with 429 career tallies. Nylander added a goal and two assists of his own, Roslovic contributed a goal and an assist, and Stolarz made 21 saves to survive the early onslaught.

Stamkos Climbs Past Sakic and Iginla in a Losing Effort

The cruel irony of the night belongs to Steven Stamkos. The 36-year-old scored twice, and his first-period power-play goal was the 626th of his career, moving him past Hall of Famers Joe Sakic and Jarome Iginla into sole possession of 17th place on the NHL's all-time goals list, as reported by TSN. He added his 627th in the second period, leaving him 13 goals back of Dave Andreychuk for 16th place. Stamkos also became just the third active player to score 100 career game-opening goals, joining Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby.

Doing it in Toronto meant a little more. Stamkos grew up just up the road in Markham, Ontario, and told TSN that "Joe Sakic was a reason why I wore No. 19 as a kid growing up," calling the milestone "pretty surreal" while he is still in the middle of his career. Predators coach Andrew Brunette praised the veteran's adaptability, saying, as reported by TSN, that "he's found a way to score ... he always has and he always will." All of it came in a loss — a reminder that history does not always arrive with a win attached.

Why This Night Matters for Leafs Fans

For Toronto supporters, the night offered the two things this fanbase craves most: a comeback to brag about and a reason to believe the future has arrived. Watching an 18-year-old score his first NHL goal while the captain drags the team back from 3-0 down is the kind of evening that gets clipped, memed, and replayed for weeks. McKenna's first NHL goal was not a garbage-time consolation either — it was the goal that kept the rally alive when Nashville threatened to slam the door.

The counterpoint is real, though. Blowing a 3-0 lead is the kind of collapse that can haunt a team, and Nashville let a vintage Stamkos performance go to waste. The Predators had the game in hand twice and still left Toronto with nothing. For the Leafs, the concern is simpler: they needed overtime to beat a team they trailed by three, and the slow starts cannot become a habit. Still, nights like this are how legends get their origin stories. The Predators visit Montreal on Thursday while the Maple Leafs head to Vegas, according to the Associated Press — and McKenna will skate into both games with his first NHL goal already in the books.

Read more NHL coverage on our sports topic page, and check out how the NHL's opening week delivered a historic scoring surge.