TORONTO -- John Tavares isn’t about to let some aches and pains in his face stand in the way of doing his part for the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, ESPN).
The Maple Leafs center missed more than 10 minutes of game time during overtime of Game 4 on Saturday when he was sent to concussion protocol after absorbing a hit from Senators defenseman Artem Zub. Tavares did return to take three shifts during a 4-3 loss at Canadian Tire Centre and was one of the first players on the ice for practice Monday.
“I feel good,” Tavares said Monday. “A bit of soreness just in my jaw and cheek area, but [I] felt good. I felt good on the ice today.”
That’s optimistic news for a Maple Leafs team that needs Tavares to be a difference-maker like he’s been in the past, especially given Toronto’s history of being unable to put postseason opponents away when given the opportunity.
The Maple Leafs will have another chance to do it Tuesday, being up 3-1 in the best-of-7 series, and will be looking to him to repeat past heroics.
After all, he’s had a history of being able to thrust the final dagger into teams during elimination games, a feat his high-profile teammates have yet to accomplish.
Since forwards Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander first started playing together in 2016, Toronto is 1-12 in games in which it could have eliminated the opposition with a victory. Its only win in that time came courtesy of Tavares, who scored at 4:36 of overtime to give the Maple Leafs a 2-1 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6 of the 2023 Eastern Conference First Round and a 4-2 victory in the best-of-7 series.
It is the Maple Leafs' only postseason series win in the past 21 years.
Prior to signing a seven-year, $77 million contract ($11 million average annual value) with the Maple Leafs on July 1, 2018, Tavares already had produced a series-deciding postseason moment.
In Game 6 of the 2016 first-round series between the New York Islanders and Florida Panthers, Tavares tied the game with 54 seconds left in the third period, then scored to win it at 10:41 of the second overtime for a 2-1 victory and the Islanders’ first series win since 1993.
It speaks to Tavares’s ability to come through in the clutch, a trait the Maple Leafs hope he’ll replicate Tuesday.
“I just think it’s the whole opportunity,” Tavares said. “I think it’s the whole game where you go out there and try to make a difference and getting to compete in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and have an opportunity to pursue that goal and that dream. Any time you have a chance to move on, that’s what it comes down to.
“It’s a situation where you want to go out there and make a difference, whether that’s doing something defensively, making a play that can lead to a goal, or putting it in the back of the net yourself. So you continue to play your game the right way to play well and play at a high level and execute when the opportunities come.”
With the situation from Game 4 in the rearview mirror, the agenda of the Maple Leafs is simple -- find a way to win their fourth game in the series, which has proven to be a difficult task.
“We just have to match the desperation they’re going to come with,” defenseman Chris Tanev said. “We felt we did a lot of good things the last game, but the outcome obviously wasn’t what we wanted.
“Look, it’s going to be a harder game tomorrow than it was last game. They’re going to be more desperate, and we have to match that desperation. Hopefully we can feed off the energy of our crowd and use that to our advantage.”
