The Leafs captain was tripped in the Blues zone with less than six minutes remaining in the third period. The culprit was Blues captain Brayden Schenn, who had evidently gotten his stick caught up in Tavares' skates. The play led to Tavares crashing hard into the boards.
Luckily, Tavares was ok and avoided a potential injury on a dangerous play. After he got up, you could hear the usually soft spoken captain express his frustration with the officials on the missed call. He had a specific choice of words for the officials.
Not only was it a dangerous play, but it was a missed call that had later led to St. Louis scoring to bring themselves within one goal.
Fortunately, Bobby McMann outworked Torey Krug and found the back of the empty net to secure another two goal cushion with under a minute left in the game. The Leafs went on to win 4-2.
With Toronto's captain already having missed last game against the Ducks due to a minor injury and illness, the Maple Leafs dodged a bullet when Tavares was able to skate off after the hazardous trip that went uncalled. We don't yet know whether or not he was able to escape injury. I suppose we'll find out when we hear from Sheldon Keefe tomorrow before the game in Arizona.
POLL | ||
FEVRIER 20 | 613 ANSWERS Hot mic catches heated altercation between John Tavares and official during Leafs/Blues game Should John Tavares continue the season as the Maple Leafs' second line centre? | ||
Yes, he's their best option | 305 | 49.8 % |
No, give Domi a longer look | 282 | 46 % |
Trade for a second line centre | 26 | 4.2 % |
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