Takeaways: Islanders Drop Season Opener to Maple Leafs 2-1

The New York Islanders season started off on a losing note, falling 2-1 to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday night.

Emil Heineman scored a shorthanded goal with 5:51 to play, but it was not enough for the Isles to overcome a 2-0 deficit on first period goals by Colton Sissons and Easton Cowan (PPG).
Ilya Sorokin stopped 24 of 26 shots in the loss, while Anthony Stolarz stopped 26 of 27 in the win for the Maple Leafs.

“We battled the entire 60 minutes,” Head Coach Pete DeBoer said. “There’s lots of things to work on, lots of things I liked. It’s hard to win on the road in this league and especially when you put yourself in a 2-0 hole.”

TAKEAWAYS

As DeBoer said, there were positives and negatives to pull after the game. 
Defensively, the Islanders held the high-octane Maple Leafs to eight high danger chances at five-on-five (per Natural Stat Trick), but allowed two goals on plays around the net, an area DeBoer said the team needs to improve.

Both goals came on somewhat bad bounces for the Islanders, who found themselves scrambling after a Tony DeAngelo pass caromed off a skate, leading to Sissons deflecting a slap pass from Nick Paul at 7:14. Cowan cleaned up a Jack Roslovic rebound for a power-play goal at 11:55 of the first period, moments after Morgan Rielly batted a Ryan Pulock clearing attempt out of the air. 

“There was some stuff we want to tighten up in our zone,” Heineman said. “They had too many chances down low in front and in the inside slot, so it’s something we’ll have to figure out for Saturday.”

Aside from that, the Isles really didn’t give up a bevy of grade-A chances to Auston Matthews and company – a “world class top six according to DeBoer – keeping the game relatively low event at even strength after the opening 20 minutes.

- Offensively, the Islanders finished the game with nine high danger chances at five-on-five, but really didn’t seem to find their offensive groove until the third period – and some line changes – and ultimately came up empty at even strength.

“In the third period when we stopped turning pucks over and simplified our game and got pucks behind them and started going to work, we were more successful,” Bo Horvat said. “We have to get back to that.”  

If there was a missed opportunity offensively, it was the power play, which went 0-for-4 on Wednesday and was only credited with two shots on goal. The first of the night fell victim to a series of self clears, but the power play generated more chances as the game wore on.

“Power play could have came through for us big tonight and we have to get better,” Horvat said.

- The Isles penalty kill went 3-for-4, but accounted for the lone goal of the night. Credit to Heineman, who fished a puck out along the wall and hustled up the ice, putting himself in position to finish a great pass from Horvat.

- Anthony Duclair had a notable game, recording four shots on goal, which tied for the team high. DeBoer elevated him to a line with Cal Ritchie and Matias Maccelli as a reward and Duclair had perhaps the Islanders best even strength chance of the game in the third period, cutting across the net after a nifty feed from Maccelli.

“He had good legs tonight,” DeBoer said. “I wanted to reward him. He was working and he was moving and he had some juice.”

- The Islanders had a tough night at the face-off dot, winning just 40% of draws (20-of-50)

NEXT GAME

The Islanders home opener is on Saturday night against the New Jersey Devils. All fans in attendance will receive a t-shirt, presented by UBS.