Takeaways: Isles Ride Early Lead to 3-1 Win Over Maple Leafs

A quick start, a well-oiled power play and a businesslike approach powered the New York Islanders to a drama-free 3-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night at Scotiabank Arena.

Brayden Schenn and Cal Ritchie (1G, 1A) scored a pair of power-play goals in the opening 10 minutes and Emil Heineman added an even-strength insurance marker for the Islanders. Mathew Barzal had a game-high three assists in the process, while Steven Lorentz scored the lone goal for the Maple Leafs.

Ilya Sorokin stopped 26-of-27 shots in the win, while Joseph Woll stopped 31-of -34 in the result.

“It's huge,” Ritchie said of the team’s clinical win. “We haven't been playing necessarily full 60 minute games. I'd say that's been something that we wanted to work on. I felt like tonight was a 60 minute effort.”

The win was the Islanders second straight and helped them keep pace in the Metropolitan Division playoff race. The third-place Isles (83 points) moved back into a tie with the second-place Pittsburgh Penguins (83 points), with the Pens have a game in hand. The Columbus Blue Jackets (81 points) remain close in the rearview mirror after scoring a 5-1 win over Carolina.

TAKEAWAYS

- Ritchie’s return home went about as well as the rookie could have hoped for with a goal and an assist in the first 10 minutes of Tuesday’s contest.

It was Ritchie’s behind the back spin-o-rama pass through the crease to Schenn that opened the scoring at 4:15, a lead the Islanders took and never gave back. The rookie took advantage of some light Leafs coverage on the second goal, taking the puck to the net and whacking his own rebound past Woll.

“It was special,” Ritchie said of the game and experience of having chills in during the national anthems and trying to spot family in the stands.

While he was born in nearby Oakville, ON, Ritchie has certainly looked at home playing on the goal line on the Islanders power play, where he played a key role in both goals.

“He's been playing such good hockey lately,” Barzal said of Ritchie. “He's really been working on his game, too, after practice, before practice. He's he wants to get better. He's got a hunger to get better.”

Perhaps more remarkable is that Ritchie hadn’t played goal line on the power play during his decorated junior career, but his quickly learned the position.

“You watch a lot of clips and you have a lot of really good players on this team that I can learn from,” Ritchie said. “I’m trying to take it all in and trying to learn every day.”

- As Ritchie alluded to above, it was a pretty steady game for the Islanders, who have been involved in some high-event tilts of late. The Islanders only allowed six high danger chances at five on five (per Natural Stat Trick) and nearly led wire to wire. Even in a third period where they allowed 11 shots, they didn’t give the Maple Leafs much.

“We were just locked in,” Barzal said. “You could tell before the game. You see our power play moving it well right away. And I think the best part about tonight was our third period just how tight we played defensively and everyone committing.”

- As for the standings, when asked about how Pittsburgh and Columbus keep winning, Head Coach Patrick Roy had a retort ready.

“They see us winning every night too.”

- The Heineman-Bo Horvat-Barzal line was in fine form on Tuesday. The trio combined for 10 shots on goal, not including a Horvat shot off the post. Their best moment came on an extended shift in the second period, pressuring the Maple Leafs and culminating with Tony DeAngelo feeding Heineman with a cross-ice pass for a one-timer to make it 3-1. Heineman finished with a game-high six shots on goal.

Barzal dished out three assists on Tuesday, marking the 11^th time he’d recorded three or more assists in a game. That tied John Tavares and John Tonelli for sixth-most in franchise history, per NHL Stats.

Shoutout to Horvat as well, who batted down a Maple Leafs clearing attempt out of the air on the sequence before Schenn’s power-play goal.

- Schenn scored his first goal as an Islander on Tuesday night with a power-play goal 4:15 into the first period. He’s got three points (1G, 2A) in his last four games.

- The Islanders power play went 2-for-6 on Tuesday, marking the sixth two-goal game of the season for the man advantage unit. It was the second time in four games the power play had scored twice in a game.