Auston Matthews skipped the club's full morning skate in Buffalo. Given the lack of production from the Toronto Maple Leafs' star, it's clear he isn't 100 percent. John Tavares has joined an exclusive club of elite NHL goal scorers. The Toronto Maple Leafs forward scored his 200th and 201st goals as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs in their 5-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Monday With the goal, Tavares has scored 200 goals with two different teams, becoming just the fifth player in NHL history. Wayne Gretzky, Keith Tkachuk, Mark Messier and Lanny McDonald are the only players to ever accomplish the feat. "They always feel better in a win, so it's hard to appreciate and soak it in, but you never take anything like that for granted," Tavares said after the game. "I've had amazing six and a half years here so far, and I'm looking forward to keeping it going and playing my game. I'm playing with a lot of great players and with two great franchises. I'm just proud to be effective and productive over the course of my career." Tavares and McDonald are the only two former Leafs to reach the double 200-goal milestone. The Leafs were playing in the annual Next-Gen game and the Tavares family was in attendance. "To have his family here as well and see that. So very cool moment for him. I think a lot of us take that kind of stuff for granted. You got to look at it sometimes and just enjoy that moment and I hope he does that with his family." Tavares scored 272 goals in 669 games with the New York Islanders over nine seasons. The 34-year-old joined the Maple Leafs in the summer of 2018 after signing a seven-year, $77 million contract. An unrestricted free agent at the end of this season, Tavares entered Monday's game against the Jets with 15 goals and 17 assists in 33 games, a bounce back by his standards after recording just 65 points in 80 games last season. The player's improved play comes at a time when Auston Matthews missed his 11th game this season with a lingering upper-body issue. The goals on Monday put Tavares 27 goals away from hitting 500 for his NHL career.
