John Tavares knows how to make the right first impression.
Making his Maple Leafs regular-season debut in Toronto's season-opener Wednesday night at Scotiabank Arena, Tavares scored at 18:07 of the second period against the Montreal Canadiens. The goal — his first as a Leaf after scoring 272 times over nine seasons with the Islanders — gave Toronto a brief 2-1 lead before Montreal's Andrew Shaw tied things up with 14 seconds remaining in the period.
There are many skills Tavares possesses, and on his goal he displayed shifty moves and a screaming wrist shot to beat Habs netminder Carey Price.
The $77 million man was also on the ice for the Leafs' first goal of the season, a power-play snipe by Auston Matthews 12:57 into the opening period. He was watching from the bench when Matthews buried a Patrick Marleau pass 1:01 into overtime, lifting the Leafs to a 3-2 victory.
Tavares led all Toronto players with five shots on goal Wednesday, and his 18:04 time on ice was second among Maple Leafs forwards to Mitch Marner (18:35).
The prize acquisition of the NHL offseason, Tavares was met with a rousing ovation when he skated on to the ice during pregame player introductions. Even Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas was caught up in that moment, filming Tavares' inaugural entrance on his cell phone.