John Tavares hits career milestone with a very John Tavares-esque goal
To put it simply, John Tavares’ 300th regular season goal of his NHL career was scored in, well, blatant John Tavares fashion.
With the Leafs up 1-0 against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night, the 28-year-old tipped a point shot off the stick of Jake Gardiner. The always-cerebral Tavares then tracked down the rebound and did the thing that makes him who he is.
John Tavares 🚨
300th Career Goal! 2-0 Leafs. pic.twitter.com/khoRnPMi1p
— Flintor (@TheFlintor) January 11, 2019
Despite the scramble in front of him, the former first overall pick displayed more patience than most before deposited the puck into the open net to double Toronto’s advantage.
The tally was his 28th of the season. He scored the first 272 regular season goals of his career during his nine seasons with the New York Islanders.
That goal prompted this fun fact from our friends at Sportsnet Stats.
#Leafs John Tavares is the first player from the 2009 NHL Draft with 300+ goals.
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) January 11, 2019
To reiterate, Tavares now has 28 goals in only 43 games this season.
While writing this story, he literally scored again. Make that 29 goals in 43 games this season to tie him for second in the league with Jeff Skinner and put him only three behind Alex Ovechkin’s total of 32.
(Ovi scored twice in Washington’s 4-2 win over the Boston Bruins on the same night that Tavares netted his couple.)
Tavares’ previous season-best while with the Islanders was 38 goals in 82 games during the 2014-15 campaign.
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