This was hardly just the return of a former player. Far from it.
What this felt like was the catharsis of an entire fan base, the stress and angst of decades coming to a head and exiting through whooping chants and hateful sing-song. And then an epic celebration, where some 14,000 people leaving the Coliseum were in such rapturous joy that it seemed possible this episode is behind the franchise, at least in part.
John Tavares, meanwhile, left his first game back in his former home as the villainous visitor just as he expected — no longer feeling welcome. The Islanders fans hammered their previous captain with bloodthirsty boos, derogatory signs, and often-comical chants. From the beginning to the end, he heard the vitriol, and then watched it fuel the Islanders to a 6-1 romp over his Maple Leafs on Thursday night.
“I expected it was coming,” Tavares said of the reception. “No one has walked in my shoes, so I know that. I just tried to be open and honest [about the decision to leave]. It is what it is. I made my decision and moved forward.”
While there has been understanding in the Islanders locker room and front office about Tavares’ decision to sign a seven-year, $77 million deal as a free agent with his hometown Leafs last summer, the fans couldn’t get over the fact the 28-year-old had spent months — if not years — declaring how much he wanted to stay with the club that drafted him No. 1-overall in 2009. So out came the burning jerseys in the parking lot before the game, the small rubber snakes thrown at him during warm-ups, the sweater thrown at him as he went off after warm-ups, and the biting chorus of “You’re a liar!” that was the background music all evening.
“As I’ve said, it’s probably the hardest decisions I’ve had to make in my life,” Tavares said. “Obviously, it took me some time to do it because of how difficult it was. I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do until I made the decision.”
The 13,917 people who paid for a seat didn’t care, and the first-place Islanders (37-19-7) showed no quarter toward the Maple Leafs (39-21-4), playing the second leg of a back-to-back with a woeful defensive corps and a backup goalie in Garret Sparks. Toronto actually went up 1-0 on a Zach Hyman goal at 13:33 of the first period — but then the Isles scored six unanswered, whipping the Coliseum into a frenzy.
“One of the coolest moments of my life,” said goalie Robin Lehner, who stopped all five shots he saw from Tavares and finished with 34 saves total. “I’m going to remember this for a long time.”
Tavares was booed every time he touched the ice, and worse when he touched the puck. The video tribute the team put on the scoreboard at the first television timeout might have been appreciated by the players, but it was drowned out by the collective venom from the stands.
“That was an exciting game, to say the least,” said Casey Cizikas, whose shorthanded goal at 13:40 of the second period made it 3-1 and almost brought the asbestos down from the roof. “The fans got us going, and we fed off it, for sure.”
First-year Islanders coach Barry Trotz gave his own young star, Mat Barzal, the matchup against Tavares for most of the night. Barzal — or, as Tavares called him in his introductory press conference in Toronto, “The kid that won the Calder” — responded by raising his competitiveness to another level.“I didn’t think it was going to be that bad [on Tavares]. That was pretty intense,” Barzal said. “I haven’t played in something like that before.”
By the time Nick Leddy and Brock Nelson scored in the third to make it 6-1 — supplementing earlier goals from Anthony Beauvillier, Anders Lee and Valterri Filppula — the celebration was on. Tavares will always be a villain in this building, but a night like this only happens once.
“Of course there are a lot of emotions that go through you. At same time, I can only control what I can control,” Tavares said. “I tried to be open and honest with my decision. At the end of the day, it is what it is.”