John Tavares Scores in First Game as a Maple Leaf as Toronto Opens NHL Season with a Win

The Toronto Maple Leafs have won 13 Stanley Cups, but the last one was over 50 years ago in 1967. They didn’t even make the playoffs for 10 of the last 13 seasons, although they have made it the last two seasons, exiting in the first round. Last year’s team showed a lot of promise, with the team going 49-26-7, for 105 points, before a first round 4-3 playoff exit at the hands of the Boston Bruins put an end to things.

To help elevate themselves into the realm of the elite teams in the NHL, the Leafs spent big money to acquire forward John Tavares as a free agent from the New York Islanders. The Islanders are another team that has had past glory but hasn’t done much in recent years. The Leafs signed Tavares for seven years and $77 million. Last season, he scored 37 goals and had 47 assists for the Islanders; his 84 points would have led the Maple Leafs. Add his scoring punch to a team that scored 270 goals last season, tied for third in the NHL, and one can see why Toronto fans are excited.

Tavares did not disappoint in his Maple Leafs regular season debut. Tavares scored a goal in the Leafs 3-2 overtime win over the rival Montreal Canadiens on October 3rd in Toronto. Auston Matthews, the Leafs’ outstanding 21 year old center in his third season, scored the other two including the overtime winner.

Tavares departure from New York left a bitter taste in Islanders’ fans mouths, as the departure of a star player often does. Those fans will have to wait a while before they can boo him in person. The Islanders play the Leafs in Toronto on December 29th, but the teams won’t play in the Barclay Center until February 28th. They also will play at the Nassau Coliseum on April 1st, for those who are nostalgic for when the Islanders played on Long Island and not in Brooklyn.