Islanders Fans Throw Plastic Snakes at John Tavares In Return As Maple Leaf

New York Islanders fans showered former player John Tavares with abuse upon his return to Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Thursday. Apparently, the fans did not much appreciate Tavares’s return as a Maple Leafs player.

Tavares played his first nine seasons as a pro in New York, but decided last year decided to sign a $77 million deal with Toronto and return to the land of his birth. The 28-year-old was born in Mississauga, a city only minutes from downtown Toronto.

But as he prepared to skate out onto the ice as a Maple Leafs center, Islanders fans unleashed a torrent of abuse, according to USA Today.

Islanders fans booed Tavares loudly and cast epithets his way during the game. And they even threw plastic snakes on the ice to taunt him for leaving New York.

At least one fan burned a Tavares Islanders jersey outside the arena.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.