John Tavares, captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs, scores his 1,000th point against the New York Islanders.
John Tavares scored his 1,000th NHL regular season point in front of his father and the supporters of the team that drafted him.
The Toronto Maple Leafs captain assisted on a goal by Morgan Rielly with six seconds remaining in the third period to send the game against the New York Islanders into overtime. The score was 3-2 at that point.
Tavares achieves the four-digit milestone, making him the 98th player in NHL history to do so.
Before the match, Tavares had 998 points in his account. Midway through the second quarter, the 33-year-old center scored his eighth goal of the year, bringing him closer to 1,000 points.
When William Nylander’s point shot struck Tavares in front of the Islanders’ goal late in the third period with the Maple Leafs’ net empty, Rielly pounced on the loose puck to tie the game and secure the milestone.
As part of the Maple Leafs’ dads trip, his father Joe attended and shared the moment with the other fathers on the team. Throughout the game, he was clearly emotional, and when he realized his son had made history, he exuded pure joy.
Tavares has played in 1054 NHL regular season games and currently has 435 goals and 565 assists. The Islanders selected Tavares first overall in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, and he went on to become one of the most dominant players in the league, averaging a point per game in five of his nine seasons on Long Island and qualifying for the Hart Trophy twice (2012–13 and 2014–15).
On July 1, 2018, the Mississauga, Ontario native agreed to a seven-year, $77 million contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs as a free agent. In 2018–19, he would record career highs in points (88) and goals (47).
He would be named captain of the team prior to the 2019–20 campaign. In 2022–2023 he would score 80 points for the fifth time in his career.
