The Maple Leafs need to snap their three-game losing streak before falling further behind the eight ball in the Atlantic, as Gavin McKenna and the Maple Leafs face fellow top-two pick Ivar Stenberg and the San Jose Sharks tonight (7:30 p.m. EST, Sportsnet+).
Game Day Quotes
Vinni Lettieri on getting called up to the Leafs:
It’s obviously an honour. No matter when you get called up to this group, to play for the Maple Leafs is a special thing. There’s a lot of history behind it.
Just can’t thank my teammates and coaching staff and management enough for giving me the opportunity, because I wouldn’t be here without them. Just excited.
Lettieri on patiently waiting for an NHL opportunity over the last year:
Obviously, you want to be up here, but you’re very happy for the guys that are up here, and they’re all deserving of the call-up. You don’t just sit back and sulk. You have a lot of guys around you that want to be called up, too.
The guys last year were awesome, and the coaching staff, management, everyone did a great job. That’s what led to our success. Coming back this year, it’s just the same thing. You just want to keep on growing and keep on winning..
Lettieri on trying to be the best No. 71 on the ice tonight against Macklin Celebrini:
He’s pretty good, isn’t he? I just try to focus on my game and do what I can. Just be smart defensively, and then make the plays when they’re there.
Just have a lot of communication with Gavin and Siss. It should be fun.
Matthews on what Lettieri can bring:
He’s a veteran guy. I’ve known Vinni for a bit now. Great, great teammate, first and foremost. He comes to the rink every day, and he works extremely hard. He’s always looking for ways to get better.
Really skilled player. He’s a little bit more undersized, but he’s very competitive. He works hard. He’s skilled. He can kind of play up and down your lineup, but has some scoring touch as well.
I know that him jumping in tonight, he’ll be ready to go. He’s going to be flying out there. Excited to watch him.
Hiller on what impressed him about Lettieri:
I think we talked about him a little bit in training camp. Really impressed me. It was a funny training camp this year. We kind of split the groups really early, and I remember being on the ice with the second group, and he was just working. It really caught my eye right away.
I’m sure he wanted to be with the big group and feel like he had a fairer chance of making the team. Terrific attitude, skilled, but just his work ethic and his passion really caught me.
He’s done a great job for the Marlies, going back to last year’s playoffs.
Matthews on Celebrini’s development:
He just gets better and better every year, obviously. His IQ stands out, the pace of play that he plays with, and very competitive on pucks.
He’s strong in battles. He comes out of those 50-50 battles with the puck most of the time. That’s kind of just stuff you can’t really teach. I think it’s a mindset, and he’s definitely got it.
Matthews on what he wants to see from the team coming off three straight losses:
Just emotion. We just want to make sure that we come out and we’re skating, we’re moving, we’re playing physical and doing the right things. Playing with better structure can help minimize some of the mistakes that we’ve had.
For the most part, it’s just got to be some emotion and making sure that we come out ready to play and go from there.
Matthews on McKenna facing Stenberg for the first time:
It’s always an exciting moment. It’s a good measuring stick, for sure. I remember my first game against Patty (Laine). It didn’t go my way, for sure.
You play 84 of these a year, and obviously you’re going to play really good players every single night. Two guys that went one-two in the draft are two really, really good players that are going to be really good players in this league for a long time.
You kind of use it as a bit of a measuring stick, but at the same time, you go out there and focus on yourself, focus on the team, and play your game and play to win.
Matthews on Nylander potentially playing while under the weather:
I think he’s going to be great tonight. It’s usually how it goes with him, so I don’t think any of us are too worried.
McKenna on facing Stenberg:
I’m excited. Obviously, a lot of talk between us. He’s a good player. He’s having a good start to the year.
At the end of the day, I don’t really go out there thinking it’s McKenna versus Stenberg. It’s Leafs versus the Sharks. It’s a team game, and just looking forward to playing against them.
McKenna on training with Celebrini:
A lot of good moments. Maybe not in the moment I was having too fun of a time, but looking back, he’s pushing me. He’s pushing all of his buddies.
When you’re training around a guy like that, it helps you. Like I said, he just pushed me, so it was a lot of fun.
McKenna on what Celebrini showed him about preparing for the NHL:
I think it was just a work ethic thing. When you see a guy like that, see how well he’s doing and see how hard he works, it kind of shows you where you’ve got to get to.
How hard he works rubs off on me. I hope that’s something I can carry through to guys coming up in the league as well, show them how to work hard and what it takes.
McKenna on the long training days with Celebrini:
That was a bag of a week, for sure.
We had a tough couple of field workouts. I think we skated twice one day and then did the Grouse Grind, so that was a tough one.
Every day is tough out there, but that’s what you want in the summer, is to get better. I appreciated what he did for me.
McKenna on the team’s urgency after three straight losses:
It’s high right now. We’re hungry. We know that we don’t want to lose this fourth game in a row, especially at home.
They’re a good team, and we’ve got to be ready. Every single guy in this room knows what he’s got to do, and we’re just looking forward to hopefully showing Scotiabank what we can do.
Hiller on the extra emotion around McKenna facing Stenberg:
It would be hard to say that there isn’t. Gavin would be able to answer that better, but it’s hard to say that there’s not going to be a lot of extra emotion and stuff like that.
I think what Auston would probably say, and all these guys, is they have a lot of respect for those players. They know what the spotlight’s like. They respect them as players. They’ve played against each other for years.
I don’t think there’s a rivalry, per se. I just think there’s probably more respect going both ways.
Hiller on handling the scrutiny on his coaching in Toronto:
I don’t really feel like I’m dealing with that. I’ve been a head coach before. I’ve had these press conferences. These questions have been asked. We talk about the team, how is it going, and then we go forward to try to coach the team and win and make the team better.
I feel the exact same way here. I really do. I’m sure there’s a lot more going on, and trust me, I get some texts. But I’m not part of that. I’m not part of the media, social media, or media at all. For me, it’s really the same.
Maple Leafs vs. Sharks: By the Numbers
Swipe the table to compare teams.| Category | Maple Leafs 2026–27 · 9 GP | Sharks 2026–27 · 8 GP |
|---|---|---|
| Games played | 9 | 8 |
| Record | 3–4–2 [T-21st] | 4–3–1 [T-16th] |
| Points percentage | .444 [24th] | .563 [T-16th] |
| Goals for | 29 [10th] | 21 [T-25th] |
| Goals against | 31 [T-25th] | 28 [T-22nd] |
| Goals for / game | 3.22 [11th] | 2.63 [24th] |
| Goals against / game | 3.44 [T-22nd] | 3.50 [T-24th] |
| Home record | 2–3–1 [26th] | 2–2–0 [T-20th] |
| Away record | 1–1–1 [T-15th] | 2–1–1 [13th] |
| 5v5 shot attempts % | 46.9% [24th] | 47.9% [20th] |
| 5v5 goals for % | 41.9% [25th] | 36.7% [28th] |
| 5v5 PDO | 97.0 [24th] | 94.5 [30th] |
| Power play | 26.7% [7th] | 23.1% [11th] |
| Penalty kill | 96.4% [1st] | 80.8% [16th] |
| Head-to-head (2025–26) | 0–1–1 | 2–0–0 |
| Leading scorers · Goals–Assists–Points | ||
| Scorer #1 | Auston Matthews6–7–13 | Macklin Celebrini3–8–11 |
| Scorer #2 | William Nylander5–7–12 | Will Smith3–3–6 |
| Scorer #3 | Kirill Marchenko4–5–9 | Ivar Stenberg2–4–6 |
| Scorer #4 | Easton Cowan3–4–7 | Tyler Toffoli2–3–5 |
| Scorer #5 | John Tavares2–5–7 | Igor Chernyshov2–2–4 |
Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Select a player name to view their card (must be on active NHL roster).
Forwards
| Line | Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 88William Nylander | 34Auston Matthews | 96Jack Roslovic |
| 2 | 53Easton Cowan | 20Nick Paul | 86Kirill Marchenko |
| 3 | 92Gavin McKenna | 15Colton Sissons | 71Vinni Lettieri |
| 4 | 24Brandon Duhaime | 73Teddy Blueger | 19Zack MacEwen |
| Scratch | 29Bo Groulx |
Defense
| Pair | Left Defense | Right Defense |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22Jake McCabe | 43Darren Raddysh |
| 2 | 44Morgan Rielly | 28Troy Stecher |
| 3 | 95Oliver Ekman-Larsson | 3Nick Blankenburg |
| Scratch | 83Marshall Rifai |
Goaltenders
| 72Sergei Bobrovsky | Starter |
| 70Artur Akhtyamov | Backup |
Injuries Or Other Absences
| Player | Status |
|---|---|
| 91John Tavares | Week-to-week injury |
| 8Chris Tanev | Week-to-week injury |
| 11Max Domi | Long-term Injury |
| 41Anthony Stolarz | Rest (b2b) |
San Jose Sharks Projected Lines
Forwards
| Line | Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 92Igor ChernyshovChernyshov | 71Macklin CelebriniCelebrini | 2Will SmithSmith |
| 2 | 27Mason MarchmentMarchment | 21Alexander WennbergWennberg | 73Tyler ToffoliToffoli |
| 3 | 41Ivar StenbergStenberg | 77Michael MisaMisa | 44Kiefer SherwoodSherwood |
| 4 | 23Barclay GoodrowGoodrow | 63Zack OstapchukOstapchuk | 51Colin GrafGraf |
Defense
| Pair | Left Defense | Right Defense |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25Darnell NurseNurse | 7Michael KesselringKesselring |
| 2 | 6Sam DickinsonDickinson | 65Jacob TroubaTrouba |
| 3 | 9Dmitry OrlovOrlov | 42Luca CagnoniCagnoni |
Goaltenders
| 30Yaroslav AskarovAskarov | Starter |
| 33Alex NedeljkovicNedeljkovic | Backup |
