Saturday night on Hockey Night in Canada, the Toronto Maple Leafs squared off with the New York Islanders for the first time this season. Over the past two seasons, the Islanders have dominated the Leafs, winning five of their last six matchups and sweeping the season's series last year.
Before the game, it was announced that Auston Matthews would be out for the night after aggravating a previous injury.
David Kampf (!) would fill in for Matthews on centring Mitch Marner and Matthew Knies's line in his second game since returning from injury. Putting Kamph on this line was likely done to avoid breaking up the third line which has been on fire over the past week.
This game against the Islanders would be the Maple Leafs seventh in 11 days, and you could see some fatigue early on.
Islanders Dominate Lifeless Maple Leafs
After the Leafs came out with some early pressure in the first minute of the game, the Islanders would respond by chipping the puck into the Maple Leafs zone. Bo Horvat beat everyone to the puck and found Maxim Tsplaikov, who would open the scoring less than two minutes into the game of the Islanders first shot.
The Islanders would continue to control the play, and at the five-minute mark, they caught the Maple Leafs napping in transition, which led to a two-on-one, and Bo Horvat made the game 2-0, beating Joseph Woll clean.
Down, 2-0, five minutes into the first period, Craig Berube was unhappy. He called a timeout and blew up the bench, looking for energy. The energy didn't come as the Leafs struggled to get the puck out of the defensive zone, but after a TV timeout, with eight minutes left in the period, Nylander put on a one-man show and made the game 2-1.
William Nylander buries the backhand beauty 🤩 pic.twitter.com/Jd05PIttUc
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) December 22, 2024
But four minutes later, the Maple Leafs gave up another three-on-one, and the Islanders converted, making the game 3-1. This goal capped off the scoring in a dreadful first period.
The Islanders won the expected goal battle in the period 1.00-0.22. They had six high-danger chances to the Leafs one. All six Maple Leafs defensemen and 11 total skaters had an expected goal percentage lower than 32% in the period.
The second period looked a lot more like hockey. The Islanders still won the scoring chance and expected goal battles, but the Maple Leafs had four high-danger chances to the Islanders and scored the only goal of the period.
William Nylander made the game 3-2 five minutes into the second period on a shot where he was falling over off a great feed from David Kamph.
It's a snow angel goal for William Nylander! ❄️👼 pic.twitter.com/e0yrehEGh6
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) December 22, 2024
However, after this, Berube still wasn't happy, so he put his forward lines in a blender for the rest of the period. In the third, the Maple Leafs were dominated. The Islanders had 10 high-danger chances in the first 15 minutes of this period. This time, Isiah George scored his first NHL goal for the Islanders, Bo Horvat got his second of the game, and Bobby McMann added one more for the Leafs.
After some late pressure from the Maple Leafs, with the goalie pulled in the last five minutes, the Islanders scored the final goal of the game, making it a 6-3 final. It was an ugly effort from the Leafs all around. The Islanders had 65% of the expected goals, 64% of the high-danger chances, and 61% of the scoring chances.
Despite their three-game win streak coming into this game, the Maple Leafs have given up three or more goals in four straight games. This Christmas break cannot come soon enough. The Leafs need some rest, figure out what to do with Matthews, and find a way to start dominating the puck again. Their final game before the break is an afternoon game against the Winnipeg Jets on Monday.
All Stats From NaturalStatTrick