How Maple Leafs’ McKenna, Sharks’ Stenberg view first NHL head-to-head meeting

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Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews hopes the outcome on Monday night is a lot different for rookie teammate Gavin McKenna.

The Leafs’ home game against the San Jose Sharks marks the first meeting between McKenna, the No. 1 pick in the 2026 National Hockey League draft, and forward Ivar Stenberg, taken second overall by the Sharks.

Matthews recalled the first time he squared off against Patrik Laine in the NHL. Some five months after the two were taken first and second overall by the Leafs and Winnipeg Jets respectively in 2016, the clubs met on a Wednesday night in Winnipeg.

The Leafs built a 4-0 lead, with Matthews contributing one assist, before the Jets rallied to win 5-4.

The comeback was completed by Laine when he scored the winner in overtime, giving him his first NHL hat trick.

“I remember my first game against Patty — it didn’t go my way, for sure,” Matthews said after the morning skate on Monday. “I think (McKenna and Stenberg going head to head) is a good measuring stick. It’s an exciting moment, two guys who went one-two in the draft. They’re going to be two really good players in this league for a long time.”

Coincidentally, the McKenna/Stenberg meeting on Monday marks exactly 10 years since Matthews and Laine first went toe-to-toe, on Oct. 19, 2016.

How do McKenna and Stenberg view the matchup?

The Leafs rookie sounded a little more pumped about it than his Sharks counterpart.

“I’m excited,” McKenna said. “There’s been lot of talk (involving) us, and he’s a good player. He’s having a good start to the year, but I don’t really go out there thinking it’s McKenna versus Stenberg.

“It’s Leafs versus the Sharks.”

Stenberg told Sharks beat writer Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group in the past few days that his pre-draft meetings with the Leafs “didn’t go well” and that he was pretty sure Toronto would not be taking him.

Whether there is extra motivation for Stenberg to beat the Leafs because they passed over him, the 19-year-old wouldn’t say on Monday morning.

“I don’t know, to be honest,” Stenberg said. “I’m happy to be a Shark.”

Leafs coach Jim Hiller acknowledged the “extra juice” that the game will have, given how the draft played out.

“It would be hard to say that there isn’t,” Hiller said. “Gavin would be able to answer that better, but it’s hard to say that there’s not. There’s going to be a lot of extra emotion and stuff like that.

“(But) I don’t think there’s a rivalry per se. I just think there’s probably more respect going both ways.”

What are others saying about the two budding stars?

Part of McKenna’s off-season preparation involving skating with a group in Vancouver that included Sharks captain Macklin Celebrini.

The latter didn’t know McKenna until this summer.

“It was great to hang out with him, spend some time with him,” Celebrini said. “He loves being on the ice. You can tell by his skills and the way he plays. He just loves being out there and doing lots of training.”

As with McKenna in Toronto, there has been an adjustment period for Stenberg to the NHL with the Sharks.

It has gone well for both, all things considered, as McKenna has five points in nine games and Stenberg six in eight. Stenberg is averaging 15 minutes 51 seconds of ice time a game; McKenna is at 14 minutes 23 seconds.

“The game (has) slowed down for him,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said of Stenberg. “He’s confident. He’s a real savant on how he wants to play the game and understand. He’s picking up things quickly.”

tkoshan@postmedia.com

X: @koshtorontosun

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