John Tavares Makes Statement

Playoff time is the time of year where fans, management and everybody else involved with a pro sports team expects there best players to play that way. During the early part of the regular season, Islanders captain John Tavares looked like he was an average player. Something he is not, as any Islanders fan or observer will tell you. But during the start of the year, he looked average. Now, a day after helping get the Islanders to the 2nd round of the playoffs for the 1st time in twenty three years, he has proven he's anything but average.

When the Islanders started the rebuilding process, it became clear that Tavares was going to be the key guy that this team was going to be built around. Three playoff appearances in the last four years have held make that statement hold up, as Tavares has been the unquestioned leader, and best player on this team, during that stretch of time. Management has now gotten the right pieces, at least for the moment anyway, to build around their star player and they are starting to reap the benifits. Look at last year for an example. Tavares was the 2nd leading scorer in the entire league, behind only Jamie Benn of the Dallas Stars. He finished 3rd in voting for the Hart Trophy as the Most Valuable Player in the NHL, behind only Alex Ovechkin and Carey Price (who won the award last year). The inclination was there that this kid was bound to be a very big star in this league and this game. So your thinking after a year like that and almost getting them past the Capitals in the opening round of last years playoffs, that Tavares was ready to turn the corner and become an elite player in this sport.

Didn't exactly look that way when the year started.

He started off the 2015-16 season looking like an average player, something that nay observer will tell you John Tavares is not. Tavares struggled through a brutal first half of the regular season, notching just 34 points in 44 games. He had no jump to his game when the season started. Then all of a sudden, the light switch was flipped on for the Captain. He was put together with Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo for the stretch run during the regular season, which seemed to really get him going. He ended the year with an eight game point streak, collecting 16 points during those eight games. You started to see JT returning to form. Then the playoffs started and Tavares took off

He finished the series against the Panthers with nine points on five goals and four assists. None bigger than the two goal performance in the Isles 2-1 double overtime win in the series deciding 6th game. Which by the way was the 2nd straight double overtime game the Islanders played, the first time that's ever happened in the teams history. Tavares was all over the place in the series, which shows that he's really started to raise his game to an elite level. Don't believe me? Look at the two goals he scored in game six.

New York showed no life at times during this 6th game. They're down 1-0 with less than a minute left. Puck gets sent towards the net, Roberto Luongo, the Panthers goalie, makes the save but leaves a rebound right next to him. Luongo lost sight of it, but Tavares didn't. He found the puck and whacked it in on the backhand to tie the game at one and force extra hockey. Then in double overtime, Tavares did this:



It sent the Barclays Center into complete pandemonium and the Islanders to the 2nd round for the first time since 93. That goal has vaulted John Tavares into rarefied air. It was his statement saying that yes I'ma  big deal in this league, yes I'm the best player on this Islanders team and yes I have arrived.

JT has now showed the rest of the league what Islanders fans have known for quite a while now. He is one of the premiere players in the game of hockey and will be for a long time to come