Jim Hiller on sitting Gavin McKenna: "I probably should have got him out there"

Jim Hiller owned it Thursday night. The Maple Leafs coach admitted he should have sent Gavin McKenna back out early in the third period.

“You know what? That was my decision,” Hiller said after a 5-4 overtime loss to the Sabres.

The 18-year-old finished with 6:36 of ice time, one shot on goal and a -1 rating. He never saw the ice again after 10:20 of the second period.

Hiller pointed to a run of penalties in the middle frame. “He sat through the penalties, and then I didn't get him out there,” he said.

From there, it snowballed. Late in the period, the coach said the bench was “just trying to, you know, get out of the period.”

Then the intermission came, and the sit got longer. “I probably should have got him out there early in the third. I didn't. So I'll talk to him about that.”

Kirill Marchenko's hat trick goes to waste in overtime loss

Lost in the noise, Kirill Marchenko scored three times, including one on the power play. A hat trick on home ice, and the Leafs still walked out with a single point.

Auston Matthews added the other Toronto goal. Owen Power had the winner for Buffalo, logging 28:01 on the Sabres' blue line.

Jack Quinn did the most damage with two goals and two assists. At the other end, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 29 of 34 shots.

Now the part that stings. Teddy Blueger played 14:43, more than double the minutes Toronto's most dynamic young forward got.

Zack MacEwen was the only Leafs skater who saw less of the ice, at 5:27.

Credit Hiller for the honesty. But letting a teenager rot on the bench because the rotation got away from you is a bad habit, and this one hurt.

It's like forgetting a pot on the stove, then explaining exactly how you forgot it. Honest? Sure. The pot's still burnt.

Toronto dropped to 3-3-2 with the loss and has now lost two straight. The Leafs sit sixth in the Atlantic.

McKenna has two goals and three assists through eight games, and all five points came over his last five. The kid was trending the right way.

Brandon Duhaime, meanwhile, is still looking for his first point through eight games. So is Blueger.

The Islanders visit Saturday. Hiller promised a conversation with McKenna, but the real answer shows up on the ice time sheet after the first period.

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