John Tavares of Mississauga, Ontario became the fourth National Hockey League player this season to score four goals in one game on Monday. Tavares accomplished the feat in a 7-5 Toronto Maple Leafs win over the Florida Panthers at the Scotiabank Arena.
Tavares scored his first goal of the game at 11:05 of the first period on the power play from Mitch Marner of Markham, Ontario and Auston Matthews to put the Maple Leafs up 3-0. Tavares then scored from Zach Hayman of Toronto, Ontario and William Nylander of Calgary, Alberta at 15:04 of the first period to put the Maple Leafs up 4-1.
Tavares then scored the only goal in the second period. At 5:51, he scored from Morgan Rielly of Vancouver, British Columbia and Nylander to put the Maple Leafs up 5-2. Tavares’s last goal of the game came at 3:57 of the third period from Marner and Hyman to put the Maple Leafs up 6-2. Tavares’s fourth goal of the game was also the game winning goal.
Hyman, Marner, Nylander and Rielly also had multi-point games for the Maple Leafs. Hyman had one goal and two assists. Marner had three assists. Nylander and Rielly each had two assists.
Tavares is having a career season with the Maple Leafs. He has a career high in goals (45) and plus/minus (+20) already in 2018-19.
The other three players who have notched four goals in one game this season all have a Canadian connection. They are Blake Wheeler and Patrik Laine, who each play for the Winnipeg Jets, and Brad Richardson of Belleville, Ontario, who has scored four goals in one game this year for the Arizona Coyotes.
