Nylander has 4 points, Maple Leafs defeat Islanders
William Nylander had two goals and two assists, all in the second period, for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 5-2 win against the New York Islanders at Scotiabank Arena on Monday.
John Tavares had a goal and an assist, and Ilya Samsonov made 31 saves for the Maple Leafs (29-11-8), who played the first of a five-game homestand.
Mitchell Marner’s home point streak ended at 20 games (29 points; eight goals, 21 assists), a Toronto record.
Anders Lee scored twice, and Ilya Sorokin made 33 saves for the Islanders (23-21-5), who have lost five straight games (0-3-2) and are 1-6-3 in their past 10.
Lee gave New York a 1-0 lead at 19:37 of the first period when he put in a rebound from the goal crease.
Nylander tied it 1-1 at 5:07 of the second period off a drop pass from Tavares.
Lee put the Islanders back in front 2-1 at 6:18 on a one-timer from Kyle Palmieri, who returned after missing 27 of the previous 28 games with an upper-body injury.
Tavares tied it 2-2 on a breakaway at 7:53 on the power play. Samsonov sent a stretch pass to Nylander at the offensive blue line, who found Tavares alone.
Calle Jarnkrok gave the Maple Leafs a 3-2 lead at 9:33 on a breakaway when Nylander flipped a pass over Adam Pelech.
Sorokin kept it a one-goal game when he stopped Michael Bunting on a penalty shot at 15:24.
But Nylander made it 4-2 though at 16:32 when he intercepted Scott Mayfield’s clearing attempt, skated into the high slot and shot over Sorokin’s glove.
Auston Matthews scored at 7:44 of the third period when he took a bank pass from Justin Holl, fought off Ryan Pulock on a partial breakaway and shot past Sorokin’s blocker for the 5-2 final.
The goal extended Matthews’ personal point streak to 10 games (eight goals, five assists).
Pelech was minus-3 in 16:55 in his return after missing 21 games with an upper-body injury.
The Islanders were without Noah Dobson because of an undisclosed injury. He leads their defensemen with 27 points (10 goals, 17 assists) in 48 games.
Tonight's squad pic.twitter.com/yrZI3tWGsJ
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) January 23, 2023
LEAFS WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWIN!!@LGCanada | #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/bTdy8e7CBB
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) January 24, 2023
This was four sure ⭐️@Molson_Canadian | #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/1Er1CHWMDT
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) January 24, 2023