Maple Leafs vs Sharks: McKenna's Power-Play Winner Ends Three-Game Skid

Maple Leafs vs Sharks: the result

The Maple Leafs vs Sharks game on Monday, Oct. 19 ended with Toronto's first win in four tries: a 3-1 victory at Scotiabank Arena built on two power-play goals and a 30-save night from Sergei Bobrovsky. Gavin McKenna scored the winner on the man advantage at 4:56 of the third period, his first career power-play goal, and Auston Matthews finished with a goal and two assists.

The win moved Toronto to 4-4-2 and snapped a three-game losing streak that had dropped the Leafs to the bottom of the Atlantic Division. San Jose fell to 4-4-1. It was also the first NHL meeting between the top two picks of the 2026 draft, McKenna and Sharks forward Ivar Stenberg, and the No. 1 pick won the night on the scoresheet.

It was not a dominant performance. The Leafs trailed for most of 40 minutes, outshot San Jose only 32-31, and needed a goal with 12 seconds left in the second period to get even. But a team that had lost three straight found a way to win a one-goal game in the third, which is the exact thing it had failed to do against Buffalo on Oct. 15.

How the game unfolded

San Jose scored first. Mason Marchment was left alone in front at 13:54 of the first period after a Matthews turnover in the defensive zone, and Tyler Toffoli got the assist. Toronto then spent most of the second period pressing without a finish until Matthews tied it on the power play at 19:48.

The full scoring summary:

McKenna's goal was the highlight. Accounts of the finish differ slightly, but the NHL.com recap describes him working into the slot and beating Yaroslav Askarov glove side. Nick Paul closed it out with an empty-netter 40 seconds from the end, with Matthews picking up his third point on the play.

Askarov finished with 29 saves and gave the Sharks a chance all night. Jim Hiller said afterward that his team "had some really good chances through 40 minutes at even strength, and Askarov made some good saves." That is a fair reading of a game where Toronto's five-on-five play was better than the score at the second intermission suggested.

Matthews: the mistake and the make-up

Matthews had a strange, complete night. His giveaway set up Marchment's opener, the kind of defensive-zone error that has hurt Toronto repeatedly this month. He then scored the tying goal, set up the winner and assisted on the empty-netter.

The three-point game puts Matthews at seven goals and 16 points through 10 games, and the tying goal was his third on the power play, the team lead. For a player coming back from an MCL tear, that is an extraordinary start. We tracked how quickly he got going in our piece on Matthews' return from the knee injury; he has added four more points since.

The concern is the gap between Matthews and everyone else. In the 4-1 loss to the New York Islanders on Oct. 17, Toronto's top six forwards did not record a point. A team that needs its captain to score or set up every goal is a team one quiet night away from another losing streak.

Bobrovsky's best night in Toronto

Bobrovsky stopped 30 of 31 shots for his first home win as a Maple Leaf. He came into the night 1-3-2 with a .891 save percentage and a 3.29 goals-against average, numbers that had more to do with the coverage in front of him than with his own play in several of those games. Monday he was sharp from the start, and the only goal against him came from a defensive breakdown he had no chance on.

His record is now 2-3-2. More important than the record is that he gave Toronto a stretch of steady goaltending at a point when the team's confidence was thin. Bobrovsky was brought in for exactly this, and our look at how the Bobrovsky signing came together argued early that a slow start would not define him.

The schedule means he will not get the next one. Toronto plays in Columbus on Tuesday, Oct. 20, the second half of a back-to-back, and Anthony Stolarz has been confirmed as the starter, according to Elliotte Friedman. Artur Akhtyamov, recalled from the Toronto Marlies on Oct. 19 along with forward Vinni Lettieri, is the backup.

Special teams decided it

The power play went 2-for-5 and the penalty kill went 4-for-4. In a game where the shots were nearly even and the Leafs could not finish at five-on-five, that difference was the whole margin.

The kill deserves credit. San Jose's top unit is built around Macklin Celebrini, and Toronto kept it off the board on all four chances. In a game tied or within one for 59 minutes, every one of those kills mattered. The Leafs' depth penalty killers have been one of the better stories of the young season, as we noted when the unit started 10-for-11.

The power play, meanwhile, is getting goals from different places. Matthews' tying goal came off a Marchenko and Raddysh setup, and McKenna's winner came from a Matthews feed with Nylander also involved. Nylander played through an illness after missing the morning skate, per the NHL's status report, which makes his assist on the winner a little more impressive.

McKenna's tenth game, and why it mattered twice

Monday was McKenna's 10th NHL game, which means the first year of his three-year entry-level contract is now used. The slide option is gone, and he will be a restricted free agent after the 2028-29 season. We explained the stakes of that decision before the season in our piece on McKenna's nine-game window. Toronto made the call by playing him, and he answered with the winning goal.

The goal was his third of the season and his sixth point. Heavy noted that he became the first 18-year-old Maple Leaf to score a power-play goal since Vincent Damphousse in December 1986. Hiller, who drew heavy criticism for sitting McKenna for the final half of the Buffalo game, was positive afterward. "He's just not afraid of the moment, and he enjoys the moment," Hiller said, per The Hockey News.

Stenberg, for his part, was minus-1 with one shot in 14:27. One game settles nothing between two teenagers, and the Sharks rookie came in with six points in his first eight games. But Toronto needed its No. 1 pick to make a difference on a night with little margin, and he did.

What's next for the Leafs

The win starts a run of four games in six nights on a positive note, and the next three are tougher. Toronto visits Columbus on Tuesday, Oct. 20, in the first meeting since the trade that sent Matthew Knies to the Blue Jackets for Kirill Marchenko. The Leafs host the New York Rangers on Thursday, Oct. 22, then visit the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday, Oct. 24.

The lineup will not get much help soon. John Tavares remains week-to-week with the lower-body injury he suffered against Buffalo, and Chris Tanev, who is on injured reserve with an upper-body injury, was only back to skating on his own as of Oct. 17. Our breakdown of how Toronto covers centre without Tavares still applies, and Nick Paul's empty-netter capped another useful night from a player who has been asked to play up the lineup.

The takeaway from Monday is simple. The Leafs played a competitive game, got their best goaltending of the season and won on special teams. They still need more five-on-five scoring from someone other than Matthews. Check the Atlantic Division standings after Tuesday night: a road win in Columbus would make Toronto 5-4-2 and turn one good night into a modest winning streak before the Rangers come to town.