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Tavares gets support, Petan scores in win over Sabres

March 3, 2019, 11:59 AM ET [186 Comments]
Mike Augello
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After being excoriated by fans in his first visit to Long Island as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the fans at Scotiabank Arena gave John Tavares a rousing cheer in support of the Mississauga, ON native and he showed his appreciation with a goal and two assists in a 5-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.

Tavares scored his club-leading 37th goal of the season and added helpers on Nikita Zaitsev's third goal of the season and Mitch Marner’s empty-netter for the Leafs second victory over their Atlantic Division rival in six days.




“Our fans obviously wanted to support (John) here tonight, he’s an important part of our team,” Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said after the game. “He made a great decision for himself and for his family. To me, that's how you make decisions anyway. We're thrilled to have him.”

In spite of the Leafs scoring the opening goal, they continued the trend of struggling early in the game, surrendering the lead and falling behind on Jason Pominville and Conor Sheary goals 94 seconds apart, but they responded with the tying goal late in the first from Morgan Rielly.

Nic Petan, acquired last week in a trade from Winnipeg, played in his first game for Toronto and in spite of playing a team-low 7:45, put the Leafs ahead for good late in the middle frame on a setup from Trevor Moore.



“(It was an)unreal pass. I just was yelling super loud so when we got to the bench said, ‘Good yell.’ “ Petan said. “I didn’t really think about it. I just smacked it and it went in.”

The 23-year-old forward was in a similar situation with Winnipeg to former Leaf Josh Leivo in Toronto; trapped on the Jets roster as a healthy scratch because of not being exempt from waivers.

Petan may be an extra forward for the rest of this season, but as an RFA this summer, he can be qualified with a 10% raise of his current salary just under $900,000, which would give the Leafs another inexpensive forward to play on the fourth line with Moore, Frederik Gauthier and possibly Tyler Ennis, if he is re-signed after the season.

Contributing players on Inexpensive contracts will be more important than ever next season, with Mitch Marner, Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson needing new deals. There was speculation before the trade deadline that the Leafs contemplated dealing Connor Brown because of his $2.1 Million cap hit next season and his place on the fourth line.

If the salary demands of Johnsson or Kapanen exceed what GM Kyle Dubas expects, it may result in one of the two forwards or possibly William Nylander being moved and that would likely result in Brown being moved up to the top-nine.

The Leafs embark on a three-game Western Canada road trip this week, starting on Monday with a matchup with the Western Conference leading Calgary Flames.

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