Maple Leafs captain John Tavares notched a major career milestone on Monday night, recording a game-tying assist against the Islanders, which represented his 1,000th point in the NHL.
Tavares becomes the 98th player in league history with 1,000 points, and he achieved the feat against his former team, having spent the first nine years of his career on Long Island.
Islanders fans still don’t seem to have forgiven the 33-year-old for bolting for Toronto after the 2017-18 season, and they showered him with boos upon realizing he was credited with an assist on Morgan Rielly’s late equalizing goal.
A shot from William Nylander deflected off the stick of Tavares before settling in front of Rielly, who tucked away the goal.
The Leafs bench clears as Morgan Rielly ties it up with six seconds to play with John Tavares notching point 1,000 on the play 🥹 pic.twitter.com/jiFR15R3iz
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) December 12, 2023
The Maple Leafs cleared their bench in celebration of Tavares’ milestone assist, while the scoreboard at UBS Arena acknowledged the feat from the Islanders’ former captain. However, Toronto’s celebrations were somewhat short-lived as New York’s Bo Horvat scored the game-winner in overtime.
Tavares registered two points in the game, a goal and an assist, bringing him to an even 25 points in 25 games this season.
The 15-year veteran played 669 games for the Islanders from 2009-18, winning a Calder Trophy during his rookie season and making the All-Star team in 2014-15. He left for Toronto on a seven-year, $77 million deal during the offseason in 2018.
Tavares and the Maple Leafs will return to Long Island for the final time this season on Jan. 11.
