Leafs captain John Tavares speaks out on the longest scoring drought of his career
It's not difficult for fans in Toronto to notice that one of their top players is having issues with consistency and productivity this season. I am, of course, referring to Maple Leafs captain John Tavares.
Tavares has been nicknamed "captain consistency" in the past and rightfully so. Tavares has been almost a point per game player for majority of his career, posting 1,009 points in 1,074 games played. He has also posted nearly a point per game in every season as a Maple Leaf. That is, until this season.
During this season, Tavares had notched 11 points through his first 7 games and was on pace for another big year, until he got himself into a bit of a scoring slump. In his last eight games, Tavares has recorded no goals, no assists, no points and has been a -6 while averaging only one hit per game and over twenty minutes TOI per game.
Tavares' eight-game scoring drought is the longest drought of his NHL career. This is what the captain himself had to say on his recent play:
"I can't say it's a great feeling or an easy feeling. Just continue to win a lot of puck battles. That's one area that's been really consistent for me all year."
One thing that has been consistent for the Maple Leafs captain this season is his continuation of being a dominant face-off specialist. His career high in a season was 60.6% and he's currently on pace to break that. This season he's currently riding a 61.2% face-off win percentage.
Something that the captain needs to do more of is shoot the puck on net. His shooting percentage is currently twice as low as his average. Hopefully Tavares can get a greasy goal soon to help get the monkey off of his back. Whether it's a fluke or a or a tip in front of the net, Tavares could certainly use a good bounce in his favour to help open up the floodgates, because you can tell he's feeling it.
Previously on MapleLeafsDaily
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JANVIER 24 | 435 ANSWERS Leafs captain John Tavares speaks out on the longest scoring drought of his career Do you think John Tavares still goes 1st overall in a 2009 re-draft? |
Yes | 245 | 56.3 % |
No | 190 | 43.7 % |
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