

Monday night was an emotional one for Patrick Marleau and his family as the 38-year-old returned to San Jose for the first time since joining the Toronto Maple Leafs this past offseason.



Fitting & Ironic the first time the boys and I see Patrick play with a Leafs sweater on, we are in San Jose. #TMLTalk I 💙12 pic.twitter.com/Qa3t5Jqdjt — Christina Marleau (@c_marleau) October 31, 2017

Ahead of the game, the Sharks honoured the franchise’s all-time leader in games played, goals, points, power play goals and short-handed goals with a special video tribute, which was followed up by a five-minute standing ovation from the Sharks faithful.



Patrick #Marleau got a lengthy standing ovation in his first game back in San Jose since joining the #MapleLeafs. . . (Via @sanjosesharks) A post shared by TSN (@tsn_official) on Oct 30, 2017 at 8:40pm PDT

Although the Leafs didn’t get the outcome they would have liked in Marleau’s return to San Jose, it was still a memorable night for the former first round draft pick. Following the game, some of his longtime teammates ended up sticking around so they could welcome Marleau back with open arms.



Friends ‘til the end. pic.twitter.com/eqmeeVqj2R — San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) October 31, 2017

Mike Ricci and Patrick Marleau, Twitter/SanJoseSharks

Evgeni Nabokov and Patrick Marleau, Twitter/SanJoseSharks

Joe Thornton, Mike Ricci and Evgeni Nabokov were three of Marleau’s former teammates who stuck around to see him after the game and were pretty happy about getting to reunite with their longtime teammate.

(H/T Twitter/SanJoseSharks)