John Tavares matures, finds his place with Islanders

John Tavares won the faceoff, strong-arming the puck away from the Rangers' Brian Boyle. As Mark Streit controlled it, Tavares backed up, seeming to just drift into the middle of the offensive zone. Except he was stealthily putting himself into the right position.

Streit let go a hard shot-like pass, aimed right at Tavares' feet. Tavares turned his stick ever so slightly and the puck changed direction, sailing 30 feet and past Henrik Lundqvist for the game-winner, a 4-2 triumph for the Isles on Oct. 15 sealed when Tavares dove to backhand the puck into an empty net for his third career hat trick.

"He knows where to be," Streit said. "Johnny just has that ability to be in the right spot."

A week later at the Florida Panthers, the two made the exact same connection, giving Tavares six goals in his first six games.

Always the hard worker

These are the things you can see. Tavares has never shied from the spotlight, working as hard as anyone to be the best, as he was during his teen sensation years in the Ontario League when his play so impressed the Islanders they made him the top overall pick in the 2009 draft.

There's more to being an NHL superstar, though.

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"For me, I feel like I had two good years my first two seasons in the league," Tavares said. "Maybe some people disagree. But I knew it would take some time and there are definitely things I look back on and wish I'd done differently or just needed to learn from."

He ticks off a list of moments, all of them hockey-related. This is how it is with Tavares, just six weeks past his 21st birthday but always itching to learn more about the game he's been obsessed with since his preschool days.

Hardly any recent top pick is as serious about his craft, and hardly any needed to learn to let go as much as Tavares has had to do to allow himself to flourish the way he has so far this young season.

"You'd see him in the locker room at 4:30, headphones on, just in a zone," said Doug Weight, who was teammate and landlord for Tavares the last two years and now is the assistant coach in charge of the power play, on which Tavares has produced four points and several dazzling plays this season.

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"He's had to understand that you can't take the game home with you, everywhere you go and let it eat you up like that," Weight said. "I'd never seen a guy who can dominate a game like he can, put up three-four points, lose and just be completely disgusted with himself afterward.

"What you see this year is maturity. He's learned to let it go a little."

Barb Tavares has seen the great moments so many times. Nothing her son does on the ice surprises her. She even sensed that this hot start was coming, given John's peace of mind after signing the six-year, $33-million contract extension before training camp that erased any doubts about his commitment to the Islanders.

"I find he kind of lays back at first, because he needs that comfort zone," Barb Tavares said. "But once he's comfortable, oh boy -- watch out. And he's comfortable this season."

All teams try to smooth the transition from junior to pro hockey for their top picks. Sidney Crosby crashed at Mario Lemieux's house as a rookie. Tavares not only had the Weight family, he's had Matt Moulson, Tavares' good friend's older brother, as housemate at first (Moulson is married now) and linemate since they both arrived two seasons ago.

"Oh, I think that has helped," Barb Tavares said. "We really have no complaints. John really loves it there."

That showed with the extension, which was signed nearly a full year before his entry-level deal expired.

"I don't know if [not signing it] would have affected me, but both sides were so close when we first started talking, it made sense to push ahead and do it as quickly as possible," Tavares said. "I'd say having it done has helped, for sure."

Commitment to Islanders

He also knows his place in the Islanders' and the hockey world. The extension shut up the whisperers -- particularly from north of the border -- who thought Tavares was languishing on Long Island.

It could also set the tone for future negotiations, either with free agents or current Islanders who now know the team's best player is here for the long haul.

There's more that you cannot see. His relentless work over the summer, with fitness trainer Richard Clark and skating coach Dawn Braid, has helped him mature physically and reduce what scouts felt was his biggest weakness coming into the draft.

"I think that's where I see he's improved most, his skating," said Steven Stamkos, a fellow OHL alum and the No. 1 pick by Tampa Bay the year before Tavares. "He's always had the offensive skills, but now he's much tougher to get off the puck."

Stamkos blossomed his second season and hasn't looked back; still it took until his third season with the Lightning, last season, for the team to reach the playoffs.

That's where Tavares is trying to push his game now. He wears the alternate captain "A" on his jerseys, an acknowledgment that he's the biggest key to the Isles' success. It also gives him a bigger nudge away from being the shy kid who arrived here two seasons ago with incredible skills, a burning desire to win and not much else.

"You see him in the room now, at 4:30, and he's joking with the guys, smiling, looking relaxed," Weight said. "Your best player has to be right in the thick of it, or else it's bad for him and it's really bad for everyone else."

Comfortable is a dangerous word to coaches -- they see it as relaxing, losing an edge that a player needs to compete. It's the opposite for Tavares, who needed a couple of seasons to learn his way around NHL life.

"For anyone else, I'd agree and say it's a bad thing," Weight said. "Comfortable is the best thing for Johnny right now."