Barzal lights up Tavares and the Leafs for a hat trick in revenge game.

Things did not go the way John Tavares and the Toronto Maple Leafs were hoping for on Saturday night.

Although it was in theory just one of many games in the 2018 - 2019 National Hockey League regular season you would have been hard pressed to find anyone in Long Island on in Toronto who had not circled this game on their calendar from the very moment that the regular season schedule was released. The Saturday night game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New York Islanders marked the very first time that Tavares would face off against the team he once captained, and it would also mark the very first time that the Islanders had a chance to get a little revenge on Tavares for leaving them high and dry as a free agent over the summer.

As you would expect this likely meant that both teams were coming into this game with some extra motivation, however unfortunately for the Toronto Maple Leafs it looked like only the Islanders really seized the moment on Saturday night. It was complete and utter domination from the Islanders from the moment the first puck dropped, at least as far as the score sheet was concerned, with veteran goaltender Robin Lehner standing tall against a tough Toronto offense. 

For Lehner, a former Senators' player intimately familiar with rivalries against the Maple Leafs, it was an outstanding performance but with all due respect to his terrific shut out it was Mathew Barzal who stole the show against his former captain. I can not possibly know whether or not Barzal was particularly motivated for this contest but it certainly appears that way based on the hat trick he put up as well as the rest of his performance this evening. If Barzal was trying to show up his former captain I think everyone who tuned in tonight, both in Toronto and in Long Island, would have to give Barzal the win on this particular evening.

[pub]