'That Was My Decision': Maple Leafs' Coach Jim Hiller Admits To Mistake, Explains Benching Gavin McKenna Against Sabres

The Toronto Maple Leafs are coming off a sour defeat against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday. Falling to the Sabres in a 5-4 overtime loss, the outcome of the game was fueled by Maple Leafs rookie Gavin McKenna not seeing the ice for about half of the game.

The 18-year-old ended up taking nine shifts and finished the contest with 6:36 of ice time, the lowest of his young NHL career to this point. The last shift McKenna took was at the 10:20 mark of the second period.

"You know what? That was my decision," Leafs head coach Jim Hiller said after the game. We went for a stretch. I think we had those penalties. I wanted to get him out there. He sat through the penalties, and then I didn't get him out there. You know, through that stretch, and then in the last few minutes of the period, we're just trying to, you know, get out of the period. I guess you would say. And then now, as I've sat him for so long, and he sits in the intermission, so I probably should have got him out there early in the third. I didn't. So I'll talk to him about that."

Hiller is referencing the two minor penalties the Maple Leafs took in the second period. Oliver Ekman-Larsson was called for holding at 14:35 into the middle frame, and Morgan Rielly was called for hooking at 18:07.

The Leafs' bench boss said he would speak to the rookie about why he didn't see the ice as much as he should have, and how much ice time Hiller intended to give him. However, he's not worried about how McKenna might react to the situation, highlighting his maturity.

"I'll talk to him," Hiller said. "I've said this before. I've talked to Gavin. Very, very mature. Doesn't take anything too, too personally. That's what I've got from him. He's usually ready to go. There's been other times I haven't played him as much and put him in there and double-shifted him and those kinds of things, and you know, he's responded. So, yeah, I'll talk to him, but I, I don't have a big concern about that."

Captain Auston Matthews, who scored the first goal of the game for Toronto, said the situation McKenna was in isn't an ideal one. But he knows a night like this will only motivate him.

"Those things kind of happen sometimes," Matthews said post-game. "I mean, I think everybody's been in that situation before. It's not necessarily a situation you want to be in. But we've all got his back. A game like tonight is going to just make him hungry for the next one to go out there and, you know, compete and dominate. And I'm excited to watch that."

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