It was John Tavares, of course, because it had to be Tavares, because the only reason the Islanders were even playing in this second overtime at all was because Tavares had jumped on a puck that nobody else seemed to notice at the end of regulation.
It was Tavares, of course, because his arrival in 2009 signaled that the Islanders were emerging from the weeds, rising from the dust, from years of hopeless hockey, so many empty seasons stacked one on top of the other, high as the eye can see.
It was Tavares, of course, who gathered his own rebound, who cruised around the back of the net, his eyes as big as satellite dishes as he sensed an opening on the other side, where he stuffed it home, 9 minutes and 19 seconds before the end of double-OT.