“It’s tough to write a better script,” Auston Matthews noted afterward.

There was a lot of storybook stuff in John Tavares’ big moment.

There was the fact that Tavares notched his 999th and 1,000 career points against the team for whom he played his first nine seasons, where he stacked up 669 of those points. There was the fact that Tavares’ dad, Joe, was in the stands watching and celebrating when Tavares hit the milestone and became only the 98th player ever to reach 1,000 career points.

And then there was Tavares assisting on the goal, with seconds left in regulation, to send the game to overtime and nab the Leafs at least a point.

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