Nylander has 4 points, Maple Leafs defeat Islanders

TORONTO -- 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.

Nylander has nine points (four goals, five assists) during a four-game point streak after having two assists in the previous six.
"I'm trying to pick up my game," Nylander said. "Every night that's what I've been trying to focus on doing, so it's nice to get that night."
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 game of a five-game homestand.
"No life, no energy, no pace, no execution," Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. "What changed? We come in the first intermission, a chance to regroup. I don't think lots had to be said, other than pointing out the obvious. But it's on the players; they did the talking, and more importantly came out on the ice way more focused and played with energy right from the drop of the puck [in the second period]. The first shift was excellent, and we didn't look back from there."

Mitchell Marner's home point streak ended at 20 games (29 points; eight goals, 21 assists), a Maple Leafs record.
Anders Lee scored twice, and Ilya Sorokin made 34 saves for the Islanders (23-21-5), who have lost five straight games (0-3-2) and nine of their past 10 (1-6-3).
"Situational awareness, individual awareness, that's it," New York coach Lane Lambert said. "Three of their goals, penalty kill goal, bad change, [then) a couple guys getting in behind us. Can't happen. It's unacceptable.
"I thought our first period was our best period we've played certainly this month or one of them anyway and for whatever reason, our details and our awareness cost us tonight."
Lee gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead at 19:37 of the first period on a rebound in the goal crease.
New York outshot Toronto 13-6 in the first.
Nylander tied it 1-1 at 5:07 of the second period off a drop pass from Tavares. It was his 25th goal of the season.
"We regrouped well in the locker room, [we] just realized we came out a little flat," Tavares said. "Their urgency was high, and they were winning a lot of the pucks and we had to get our pace up, win some of those key battles, sustain pressure and tilt the ice. Once that got going, we earned some opportunities."
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.
"I wasn't expecting that [pass from Samsonov] to be honest; I was happy I got back onside because he sent it up there quickly," Tavares said. "He's done that a couple times this year, his recognition and ability to zip it up there is great, so all facets of the game you can tell he's into it."

Calle Jarnkrok gave the Maple Leafs a 3-2 lead at 9:33 on a breakaway after Nylander flipped a pass over Adam Pelech.
"I was just hoping to get it over the [defenseman] there and I think it was kind of lucky it slowed down there," Nylander said. "Usually the puck just takes off and goes down a little further, so he had some time to get that breakaway going and it was a beautiful shot."
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 at 16:32 when he intercepted Scott Mayfield's clearing attempt and scored from the high slot.
Auston Matthews scored his 25th goal of the season at 7:44 of the third period on a partial breakaway for the 5-2 final.
"We know we have to string a couple together and get the locker room feeling better and get the ball rolling in the right direction, so we're just going to keep going at it," Palmieri said. "The start was good, but [we had] some breakdowns and that's a high-powered offense over there that can finish their chances, and that was the difference."
NOTES:Samsonov is 13-0-1 at home this season. … Matthews extended his personal point streak to 10 games (eight goals, five assists). … Islanders defenseman Samuel Bolduc made his NHL debut; he had one shot on goal, three hits and one blocked shot in 14:28 of ice time. New York was without Noah Dobson because of an undisclosed injury; he leads their defensemen with 27 points (10 goals, 17 assists) in 48 games. … Pelech was minus-3 in 16:55 in his return after missing 21 games with an upper-body injury … New York was 0-for-2 on the power play and is 3-for-56 with three short-handed goals allowed in its past 21 games.