John Tavares is earning every penny of the seven-year, $77 million contract the Maple Leafs gave him in the offseason.
Not only is he living up to the hype, the 28-year-old former Islander is having a career year.
Tavares scored twice and hit the 300-goal mark for his career in leading the Maple Leafs to a 4-2 victory over the Devils on Thursday night at Prudential Center.
“It’s always that more satisfying when it contributes to a big win, especially bouncing back after the other night, so credit a lot of guys who I’ve played with over my career because obviously that was a big part of helping me be successful,” said Tavares, who also picked up an assist on linemate Mitch Marner’s empty-net goal with 22 seconds to play.
Tavares’ best season was 38 goals and 48 assists in 2014-15 with the Islanders. This season, he has 29 goals and 21 assists in 43 games.
Defenseman Ron Hainsey also scored in Toronto’s three-goal first period and third-string goaltender Michael Hutchinson made 27 saves as the Maple Leafs beat the Devils for the third time in as many games.
“We need to start stringing together wins and playing complete games and giving ourselves a shot,” forward Kyle Palmieri said after the Devils lost for the fourth time in five games. “Tonight, obviously, we dug ourselves a bit of hole, but it was good to see we stuck with our game.”
Blake Coleman and Brian Boyle scored in a 26-second span for the Devils late in the second period to get them within a goal. Keith Kinkaid made 39 saves, including two on Tavares that prevented his hat trick and 30th goal of the season.