John Tavares is trying to give the Leafs everything he has left

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This wasn't training camp. This wasn't a Tuesday in January. This was Monday afternoon, hours before the Toronto Maple Leafs would fly out to Boston for Game 5. And there was John Tavares, the captain of the team, still on the ice fine-tuning his game.

He was the last player — by far — to leave the ice, staying out to work long past even the black aces.

"He loves hockey," a member of the Leafs staff said.

Tavares definitely loves hockey. And he's trying to give the Leafs every last bit he has at a point in his career — at age 33, in his 15th NHL season — when decline has clearly set in. Nights like Game 5 are reminders that his hard work can still pay off.

Though it was Max Domi who slid into Auston Matthews' slot, it was Tavares who played as the Leafs No. 1 centre on Tuesday night. It was Tavares who took Bruins defenceman Matt Grzelcyk wide in overtime, powering his way to the net for the attempt on Jeremy Swayman that Matthew Knies was able to bang home to keep the Leafs' season alive.

It was Tavares who led all Leaf forwards with 22.5 minutes. It was Tavares who won five of his six defensive zone faceoffs and Tavares' line — this time with William Nylander and Knies — that once again controlled a head-to-head matchup against the Boston unit led by David Pastrnak.

The Leafs won almost 80 percent of the expected goals when Tavares' line — facing Pastrnak and the Bruins top pair of Hampus Lindholm and Brandon Carlo — was on the ice. Team officials were hoping he could play a Patrice Bergeron-like role for them in this series.

He gave them just that in Game 5. It was a vintage performance, the kind they'll need again from him whether Matthews plays or not in Game 6 on Thursday night.

And it's why Tavares continues to work harder than ever at his game.

Tavares was the Leafs No. 1 centre in Auston Matthews' place for Game 5. (Bob DeChiara / USA Today)

Staying for extra work regularly after practice was a new thing for Tavares this season, whether it was to address his skating with Paul Matheson, one of the team's skating coaches, or his puckhandling and shooting with Patrick O'Sullivan, former NHLer and member of the player development staff.

"You're just looking to really be precise so you can have a feel for certain things you're trying to be prepared for, or want to feel sharp, when you get in those situations in games," Tavares told The Athletic after one such session in March. "Just try to make them instinctive. You don't really want to be out there thinking a whole lot, just trusting the stuff that you've worked on because it's become instinctive."

That drive to the net in OT of Game 5? Tavares ran drills with O'Sullivan that looked a lot like that throughout the season.

It was important, Tavares had come to believe, to keep those habits fresh throughout the season, to not let them drop off as fatigue and the grind of the season hit home — especially now, at this point in his career, almost 1,200 games in. "And generally you start to feel more stiff and rigid as the year goes on," he said, "so you're still trying to keep that fluidity and rhythm that you try to build throughout the offseason and into training camp and the start of the year."

It's all part of Tavares' effort to deny the aging curve as long, or as best, as he possibly can — and prove he's still got it.

"I think, like any athlete, it's part of continuing to get better and always having to prove yourself, even this far into my career," Tavares said in January. "I want to go out and play well and don't take anything for granted just because you've been around for a long time."

What did Tavares, one of only 98 players to register 1,000 points in the NHL, still have to prove?

"That I can still be as effective and impactful as I was at any point in my career," he said. "Now, things may have changed and evolved in different ways, but (that) I can still go out there and make a difference in the game in lots of ways."

There was a clear decline in Tavares' production during the regular season — from 36 goals and 80 points two seasons ago to 29 and 65 this year. The 0.81 points per game that Tavares registered were the lowest since his 19-year-old rookie season with the New York Islanders.

The real drop-off came on the power play. Tavares' five-on-five numbers were remarkably consistent from previous seasons. In fact, the 0.81 goals per 60 minutes he scored were identical to marks from three of the previous four seasons.

All this in a year that saw him briefly playing as the Leafs No. 3 centre.