DeAngelo Earns Third Iron Man Mask as Islanders Best Maple Leafs 5-3 

Tony DeAngelo returned to the blue line as the New York Islanders beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3 in Pete DeBoer’s debut behind the Isles’ bench on Thursday night. DeAngelo wasted no time to make his presence felt as he notched assists on back-to-back goals, including Emil Heineman’s power-play, game-winning tally, and earned his third Iron Man mask as the Islanders player of the game.  

“I felt good,” DeAngelo said. "Early in the first, I got rid of a couple of pucks that I would have liked to hold on to, but it was alright because it just went into the zone.  [I was] just trying to keep it safe, get used to the pressure again, and get my feet under me." 

DeAngelo skated on a pair with Adam Pelech and recorded one blocked shot and four shots on goal in 20:33 TOI, to go along with his two points (2A).

“[I thought] we moved [the puck] pretty good,” DeAngelo said. “We had success when we were in Toronto last time [and] I thought we picked up off of that.”

DeAngelo missed the Islanders’ previous six games with a lower-body injury, and his two-way presence was instrumental to the team’s success in the 5-3 victory. 

“We were missing him a ton,” Cal Ritchie said. “[He's] such a good player, such a good puck mover [and] sees the ice so well, so it's huge to have him back.”  

The 30-year-old defenseman is tied for sixth on the team with 35 points (5G, 30A) and takeaways (19) and fifth in blocked shots (68) this season.  

The Islanders (91 points) handled their business to remain in the middle of the Eastern Conference playoff race and got some help with the Philadelphia Flyers (92 points) dropping a 6-3 decision to the Detroit Red Wings, as well as the Columbus Blue Jackets (90 points) falling 5-0 to the Buffalo Sabres. Urgency will be the name of the game in the final three contests. 

“The desperation was there,” DeAngelo said. "That's what we need for next one, next one [and] the next one.” 

Casey Cizikas was the most recent Iron Man mask recipient before DeAngelo.