Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube was just like the rest of us with his reaction to John Tavares’ highlight reel play on Mitch Marner’s first of 3 goals on Friday night against the Detroit Red Wings.

At the midway point of the first period of last night’s clash against Detroit, former Leafs captain John Tavares connected with superstar winger Mitch Marner for a goal that has received a ton of airtime for its highlight reel quality.

With the Leafs attacking the Red Wings in the offensive zone just over 8 minutes into the first frame, Marner leaned into a clapper from the top of the circle, which led to a dangerous rebound.

Tavares was able to fight off a check and secure the rebound with his back to the play. Rather than turning to complete the pass, Tavares trusted Marner’s ability to find open ice and fired a shot backwards, blind, between his legs, connecting with the tape of Marner, who made no mistake.

Following the win, Craig Berube was very complementary of the play, pointing to Tavares and Marner’s previous outstanding chemistry and Tavares’ intuition as the real keys to this play.

“It’s a great play. Chemistry, they’ve played a lot together this year. JT knows where people are and he’s got eyes in the back of his head, making plays,” said Leafs coach Craig Berube after the 5-2 win. “It was a big play for us at that time.”

Marner went on to put two more pucks behind Wings goaltender Cam Talbot before the veteran netminder was mercy-pulled ahead of the 3rd period in favour of Alex Lyon.

When asked about the play, Tavares admitted that while he didn’t necessarily see Marner, he trusted his instincts and trusted that Marner knew where he needed to be to have the best chance to get a clean shot off.

“I felt really good that he was there. Just the way in which [the nature of the play] was developing, how it played out, and when I got it. I just wanted to make it really quick before they got reset into their structure, especially when we created a good opportunity from our own zone. Really good execution on the breakout and the entry, recovering the puck and having a good sense of where we are.”

Tavares recently made his intentions known, confirming that he would like to extend with the Maple Leafs, if all goes according to plan.

The former captain revealed that his only real regret is not having brought a Stanley Cup to Toronto, but also shared that his time with the Leafs has been even better than he could have imagined when he first signed as a UFA back in 2018.

The Leafs are back at it against the Washington Capitals tonight in the second half of a back-to-back. Once again without Auston Matthews, the Leafs will need to rely on the strong play of Marner, Tavares and Nylander to guide them past one of the top teams in the East.