Islanders lose to Maple Leafs, winless in two games at new arena

ELMONT, N.Y. --Joseph Woll got his first NHL shutout when he made 20 saves for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 3-0 win against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on Sunday.

It was Woll's second career start after he made 23 saves in a 5-4 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Nov. 13.
"Pretty cool," Woll said. "I think at the end of the day, the biggest thing is that we won the game. Just to see how well we played and come out with 40-plus shots and just play hard defensively all the way through and just see how that translates to offense for us was pretty sweet. I'm just happy to be able to share it with this group."

Mitchell Marner scored twice for the Maple Leafs (13-6-1), who were beginning a four-game road trip and have won six of seven.
"It's always fun coming into a new arena and kind of just seeing what's been done to it, kind of just the new aspects of it and the new kind of feeling," Marner said. "It's always fun coming into a new building and it's a pretty good rivalry with this team, just from the fan base and what's been going on, so it's always going to be a pretty loud building coming in here and pretty electric atmosphere.
"I thought we did a good job of coming in and going at them right away and kind of putting our game down first."
Ilya Sorokin made 37 saves for the Islanders (5-8-2), who have lost six straight games in regulation and have been shut out twice in the past five.
New York, which lost its second straight at the new arena, again played without forwards Josh Bailey and Anders Lee, and defensemen Adam Pelech and Andy Greene, who are in NHL COVID-19 protocol.
"Put it this way, it hasn't been easy," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. "We're not looking for excuses, we get it. We're just trying to win a hockey game. Last night (a 5-2 loss to the Calgary Flames), we played well enough to get a point at least; tonight, we didn't play quite as well."
Marner scored on a shorthanded breakaway at 3:31 of the first period during a 4-on-3 kill to give Toronto a 1-0 lead.
New York was 0-for-3 on the power play.
"A lot of times it's execution and effort," Trotz said. "If one of those two things are failing, then you get bad results."

Ondrej Kase made it 2-0 at 2:00 of the third on a one-timer in front after a pass from David Kampf.
Woll preserved the first shutout in UBS Arena history with a blocker save on a wrist shot by Oliver Wahlstrom at 6:28.
"That's obviously pretty cool," Woll said. "It's special to be able to play in a rink that cool with a crowd that really gets into it. It's been a while since I've had a nice, big crowd really get into it, so it was just a lot of fun."
Marner scored his second of the game on a redirection from Michael Bunting at 13:29 for the 3-0 final.
"I don't think we're concerned," Islanders center Jean-Gabriel Pageau said. "We obviously know what we're into. With that group of guys, we've been through a lot the past two years, a lot of adversity. We're obviously all winners and we want to win every night.
"At this point we've got to take what we've done good in those games and keep pushing together. The only way we're going to get out of it is together and with this group of guys. We're a solid group, and I know there's a lot of character and we can get out of it for sure."
NOTES: It was Marner's second NHL shorthanded goal and first since Feb. 14, 2019. … Maple Leafs center John Tavares had three shots on goal and won 11 of 16 face-offs (68.8 percent) against his former team. … Islanders center Brock Nelson left the game after the first period with a lower-body injury. Trotz said he hopes to have an update Monday or Tuesday. … New York forward Anthony Beauvillier, who did not play Saturday, had a false positive test for COVID-19 and was able to return to the lineup. Forward Kieffer Bellows entered protocol. … Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield played his 300th NHL game. … The Islanders have allowed three shorthanded goals in 15 games this season.