Toronto fans welcome back Tavares with intense ovation after rough game in Long Island.

This probably has not been a very good past few days for Toronto Maple Leafs superstar forward John Tavares.

The week was a very important one for Tavares as it marked a huge return for him to Long Island where he would face off against the team that he led for the better part of a decade. Tavares, a former New York Islanders captain, not only had to step into hostile territory in his return to a building in which he had played so many home games in the past but also had to do so with a considerable disadvantage on the back of his mind. You see this was not the first time Tavares would face his former team, in fact that Islanders under the leadership of newly appointed head coach Barry Trotz had already soundly defeated the Leafs this season, and he had not only the pressure of facing his former team but of that loss from earlier in the season weighing on his shoulders as well.

The result in Long Island for the Toronto Maple Leafs and John Tavares was not good to say the least. The Leafs suffered arguably their most humiliating loss of the 2018 - 2019 NHL regular season at the hands of Tavares' former team and all the while the Islanders' faithful in the building rained down boos on Tavares and hurled obscene chants in his direction as they vented their pent up anger. Tavares has often been criticized for being rather robotic in the way that he handles himself in the public eye, but even for a player as stoic as he appears to be you have to imagine that the chants from his former fans, all while being hammered 6 - 1 in the game, had to have taken some toll on Tavares psyche and mental well being.

Well thankfully for Tavares it seems like the higher ups in the Maple Leafs' organization took notice, and so did the fans in Toronto, all of which set him up for an incredible comeback to what is now his home arena in Toronto. For the introductions the Leafs introduced the players in reverse order in an effort to have Tavares' name read out loud last, and when it was finally read the building came unglued. 

No doubt moments like this one will only serve to reinforce to Tavares that he made the correct decision.

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