Maple Leafs celebrate Tavares’ 1,000th career point with pregame ceremony

John Tavares had a golden celebration on Tuesday.

The Toronto Maple Leafs held a special pregame ceremony to honor the veteran forward for getting his 1,000th career point before their game against the New York Rangers at Scotiabank Arena.

Tavares was joined by his wife, three kids and his parents on the ice for the ceremony.

The Maple Leafs gifted Tavares a custom painting and a $25,000 check for his foundation.

Former Maple Leafs great Darryl Sittler presented Tavares the commemorative golden stick and gave miniature versions of the sticks to his kids.

“It’s really special to have my family be a part of a milestone like this, it means the world,” Tavares said before the game. “So much behind the scenes throughout the course of my career in my life really, from my parents, my siblings, my wife, my three kids, everything they sacrifice and help contribute to me being at my best and going out there and being able to perform, a chance to share this with them really means a lot.”

The Maple Leafs forward got his 1,000th point Dec. 11 against his former team, the New York Islanders. He had an assist on the game-tying goal with seven seconds left in the third period.

NHL.com independent correspondent Dave McCarthy contributed to this report.