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Tavares, Murray, Woll & Matthews

John Tavares Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs came back in the second period to beat the Washington Capitals by a score of 5-1 yesterday in a rare late afternoon start. The team now has one more game before the All-Star break and the bye week. They host the Boston Bruins on Wednesday.

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Then they don’t play again until they meet the Columbus Blue Jackets on Feb. 10. That’s the first of two back-to-back, away-and-home games against the Blue Jackets – they’ll play again on Feb. 11 in Toronto.

Item One: John Tavares Played the 1000th Game of His Career Last Night

Maple Leafs’ captain John Tavares played the 1,000th regular-season game of his NHL career. With a large group of guests attending the game to celebrate his accomplishment, Tavares was honored by the team with a ceremony before the game.

John Tavares, Toronto Maple Leafs (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)

Tavares was selected first overall by the New York Islanders in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. He played nine seasons with the Islanders, and this is his fifth season with the Blue and White. He’s the 375th player in NHL history to play 1,000 games. Although he noted that it was hard to put his feelings about the celebration into words, he did describe it as a “tremendous honor.”

Item Two: Morgan Rielly Scores His First Goal of the Season

Congratulations to Morgan Rielly for finally scoring his first goal of the season. And an important one it was. It stood up as the game-winner as the Maple Leafs exploded in the second period to win 5-1 over the Capitals. Rielly had been held scoreless in his first 35 games of the season but broke through to score the second Maple Leafs’ goal in the second period.

Related: Maple Leafs’ New Whipping Boy: Morgan Rielly


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The Maple Leafs’ defenseman has the reputation of being an offensive defenseman, but before yesterday he had only registered assists on the season. The goal was a big boost for Rielly and his team, who played without the services of both Matt Murray and Auston Matthews. On the season, Rielly has been putting up points and now has a single goal along with 21 assists (for 22 points).

Item Two: Matt Murray Will Be Out for a Few Games

Murray underwent further testing for an ankle injury he suffered during warmups of Friday’s game against the Ottawa Senators. Prior to the game yesterday, Maple Leafs’ head coach Sheldon Keefe announced that Murray would be out for the rest of the All-Star break and…

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