Barry Trotz acknowledged that while his team had beat Toronto handily in their first two meetings this season, they'd done so without facing off against the Maple Leafs number one goalie Frederik Andersen.
Andersen made 28 saves for the win and didn't give the Islanders much, gobbling up rebounds to limit the secondary opportunities for the Isles.
"They had a lot of desperation in their game," a hoarse Barry Trotz said after the game. "We needed a little more in ours."
Eberle was the lone Islander to solve the Leafs goalie, burying a nifty no-look feed from Brock Nelson in front of the net for a power-play goal with 5:05 to play.
Eberle's goal - which extended his scoring streak to a season-high three games - cut the deficit to 2-1, but that's as close as the Islanders came. Andersen robbed Anders Lee on a backdoor play from Mathew Barzal with under two minutes to go to seal the win.
With Andersen dialed in, the Leafs only needed two goals for two points on Monday. Rosen's first NHL goal - a long-range wrister that beat Robin Lehner - opened the scoring 2:17 of the second period.
Tavares made it 2-0 Toronto at 3:50 of the third period, snapping a Mitch Marner feed high past Lehner.
"It was one of those games where the first bounce kind of got them a little bit of momentum to it," Lehner said. "Obviously, they got it. It sucks. I think we could have played a bit better. It was one we wanted to win for sure."
