Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky clears the air regarding his interruption of Gavin McKenna's rookie lap on Tuesday.
The Toronto Maple Leafs' season opener on Tuesday against the Montreal Canadiens was also Gavin McKenna's NHL debut. The first overall pick from this past draft had his rookie lap ahead of warmups, but his lap was a little different than a traditional one.
Usually, the player getting on the ice for their first NHL game will go out by themselves and shoot a couple of pucks on net before the rest of the team joins them. But in this instance, goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky was out on the ice before McKenna, which sparked a reaction in the hockey community.
Some thought that might've been Bobrovsky being superstitious or it being a part of his routine. Others maybe believed it was just an accident.
Bobrovsky himself broke his silence on that, explaining that it was the latter of the possibilities.
"I just, I completely forgot," Bobrovsky said. "I didn't think about. I completely forgot. Yeah, I came to him, and I also told him."
There have been instances in previous years with Bobrovsky where he did allow a rookie to go out for their individual lap. In 2021-22, Florida Panthers right winger Cole Schwindt took his rookie lap, and we walked right by Bobrovsky in the tunnel and skated his rookie lap alone.
But in McKenna's situation, Bobrovsky led him out and remained on the ice, albeit away from the rookie's spotlight.
Looking back, it was a funny mistake in the eyes of the veteran goaltender, who was able to make a joke out of it.
"So I pretend that it's my first game too," Bobrovsky joked and laughed. "But no, I yeah, I didn't mean to do that. So it just happened by accident."
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