Maple Leafs lose to Kraken as Sergei Bobrovsky struggles in net

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A milestone performance by the Maple Leafs’ youngest player was overshadowed by a bad outing courtesy of the team’s oldest.

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Leafs miscues and lack of discipline certainly didn’t help in a 5-4 loss against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on Wednesday evening. When your goalie is on, though, those mistakes can be glossed over.

And if you’re allowing just 17 shots on goal, as Toronto did in the third game of a four-game western trip, you should win just about every time out. Ditto if you score four goals.

Sergei Bobrovsky, however, is showing his 38 years in the Leafs net and his inability to make timely saves in Seattle was a major factor in the loss.

A pair of power-play goals by 18-year-old rookie Gavin McKenna, marking his first two-goal game in the National Hockey League, didn’t matter in the end.

Three takeaways from the result that dropped the Leafs to 7-6-2:

What about Bobrovsky, indeed.

Never mind what the underlying numbers might say — the Leafs’ $7-million US man in net has allowed at least three goals in nine of his first 10 starts for Toronto and is now sitting on an .885 save percentage.

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In no hockey rink are those stats good enough for success, never mind the NHL.

The kick in the gut for the Leafs came off the stick of Seattle defenceman Brandon Montour, whose slapshot got through Bobrovsky with 34 seconds left in regulation and less than a minute after Auston Matthews tied the game while the Leafs were at six-on-five.

“I thought I could help on the last goal for sure,” Bobrovsky told media in Seattle. “I feel good (about his play in general), you know.

I feel strong. There is a process.

There is mistakes sometimes here and there, but overall, I feel confident.”

All due respect to the future Hall of Famer, some honesty about his own game might sit better with Leafs Nation. Or, at least, Bobrovsky starts to back up those words with goaltending that can help win games.

It wasn’t just the Montour goal. Of the Kraken’s three goals in the second period — the Leafs had just two shots on Philipp Grubauer in the second — the worst was by Ryker Evans that put Seattle up 4-2.

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Evans came down the side and fired a shot off the post past Bobrovsky, one that the vet could only wave at with his glove.

Bobrovsky’s glove side has been a recurring issue in the early going and he’s going to have to find a way to fix it.

After the Leafs lost in Calgary on Monday, Bobrovsky didn’t seem too worried either. We wonder what it’s going to take for him to take a longer look in the mirror publicly.

What did Matthews have to say?

“He’s been great for us all year long,” Matthews said. “I think every now and then, there’s going to be a couple that you want back, but in the end, I put it more on us as a five-man unit not doing enough to help him out in certain situations where they’re coming down and getting Grade-A chances.”

Leafs coach Jim Hiller said he didn’t think of pulling Bobrovsky to start the third period and the Leafs down 4-2, though he called Montour’s goal “a dagger.”

“I thought he was all right,” Hiller said. “The last one he probably would want that one back, but one goes off a toe, one goes off a stick.

That part of it, he can’t do much.”

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Dissect it any way. Bobrovsky, under contract for another two seasons and coming off a poor final year for the Florida Panthers, has not been consistently sharp in Toronto.

There’s no question that Anthony Stolarz should get the start in the trip finale in Vancouver on Saturday against the Canucks.

Ben Meyers of the Seattle Kraken controls the puck against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the second period at Climate Pledge Arena on Oct. 28, 2026 in Seattle.

WHAT ABOUT GAVIN?

McKenna had an assist on Matthews’ goal, giving him his first three-point in the NHL.

McKenna (18 years, 312 days) became the youngest Leafs player since Jack Hamilton (18 years, 262 days) in 1943-44 to have a multi-goal game.

Furthermore, with 11 points in 15 games, McKenna has taken over the NHL scoring lead among rookies. He’s the 11th teenager in Leafs history to record 10 career points in 15 games or fewer; only two others, Matthews (six games) and Mitch Marner (12 games), both in 2016-17, have done it in the past 40 years.

On each of his goals, McKenna found open ice during a man advantage and Matthews fed him on both.

“When you’re playing with a guy like that, it makes it pretty easy,” McKenna said. “He’s an unbelievable player.

Sees the ice very well, and I think teams favoured him a little bit with his shot, and that might open up a little bit of space for me. He’s fun to play with.”

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With Kirill Marchenko (lower body) out, Hiller did some line shuffling, but was not overly impressed with the work McKenna and Matthews did together, along with Jack Roslovic (who scored the fourth Leafs goal), at five-on-five. The power-play chemistry didn’t carry over.

“Five-on-five, I didn’t think they did all that much, to be honest with you,” Hiller said. “But definitely on the power play, beautiful goals.”

Still, we think McKenna should get another shot on Matthews’ left in Vancouver. One game is a tiny sample size.

HOW ABOUT THE LEAFS’ EFFORT AS A WHOLE?

True, the Leafs didn’t give up much, but they didn’t create a lot either.

A run to the penalty box in the second period, which included four Toronto minors, killed any momentum the Leafs hoped to earn.

Though the game was tight, the Leafs couldn’t get out of their own way.

William Nylander didn’t hustle on a shift early in the first, helping lead to the opening goal by the Kraken’s Berkly Catton. Morgan Rielly was caught in the offensive zone and the Leafs couldn’t get proper numbers in coverage as Seattle went back up the ice and Josh Mahura scored at 16 seconds of the second.

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The penalty kill overall has been superb, but it allowed a power-play goal, this one by Chandler Stephenson, for a third game in a row. The PK has dropped to second in the NHL, behind the Dallas Stars.

“We’re just taking too many penalties right now,” Matthews said. “It’s taking us out of a rhythm and the flow of games.

Our penalty kill has been so good, but we can’t rely on them that heavily every night.”

The Leafs were great in beating Edmonton in the first game of the trip and were terrible in losing to Calgary. They were better in Seattle, but not close to consistent enough and it was costly.

There will be plenty of areas of concentration at practice in Vancouver on Friday following a scheduled day off on Thursday. In losing the past two games, there are no good feelings remaining from the recent four-game winning streak.

“It was a close game,” Hiller said. “I thought we could have played better, there’s no question.”

tkoshan@postmedia.com

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