Maple Leafs make a lead stand up in Long Island

ELMONT, N.Y.—This time the Maple Leafs received a 3-1 lead and it was secure.

Mitch Marner, Pierre Engvall and Morgan Rielly scored because the Leafs beat the New York Islanders 3-1 Saturday, ending a six-game highway journey that featured 4 blown multiple-goal leads and criticism from head coach Sheldon Keefe.

“Good to have the ability to end off the best way we did,” Leafs captain John Tavares mentioned. “We really feel we've much more to our sport, and really feel we are able to get again to the rhythm we had. We simply need to hold staying at it.”

A sport after the New York Rangers’ physicality empowered the Blueshirts to a 6-3 win over Toronto, the Islanders tried the identical heavy checking strategy. However the Leafs had just a little extra vim and vinegar to their sport. They didn’t again down, they typically took the hit to make the play, they usually did a greater job of blocking photographs and defending the web.

“I assumed it was an amazing effort by our defence tonight, and our goaltender,” Keefe mentioned. “We took the 3-1 lead, and I assumed we have been in full management. I assumed it was progress. We defended rather well, and Petr (Mrazek) was robust with something they threw at him.”

Zach Parise was the lone Islander to beat Mrazek, who received the win in what was a uncommon begin. However these begins are going to come back extra ceaselessly.

Beginning up: Misplaced within the dialog in regards to the Maple Leafs out of the blue being “tender and purposeless,” as Keefe indicated they have been Wednesday, was the goaltending state of affairs.

Starter Jack Campbell has struggled currently. He was arguably the most effective goalie within the NHL till Jan. 1, main the league in save share (.939) whereas posting a 16-5-2 report and a paltry 1.86 objectives towards common. He was rightly named to the all-star sport. Since then, regardless of being 3-1-1, Campbell has an .878 save share and a 3.96 goals-against common, 59th of the 81 goalies who performed a minimum of one sport this month. He might have hit a wall.

That's the reason Mrazek’s begin towards the Islanders was so necessary. Mrazek goes to get extra begins, maybe sharing the load with Campbell 50-50. There are stretches within the rejigged calendar through which the Leafs play 5 video games in eight nights.

“I’m trying ahead to it,” Mrazek mentioned. “It’s been a tricky yr. I’ve been out for a very long time. I’m making an attempt to construct momentum each sport I play and go from there.”

Mrazek performed his fifth sport of the season Saturday. Between two groin accidents and a COVID break, it has been exhausting for him to discover a rhythm. However he was in a position to cease 27 of 28 photographs in a usually spectacular efficiency, particularly when the Islanders had energy performs and have been urgent exhausting within the third interval.

“Mrazek made a few large saves for us within the third,” Marner mentioned. “He’s labored extraordinarily exhausting to get again, and it’s good to see him come out and play with the arrogance and swagger.”

Given Mrazek is signed for 2 extra years at a cap hit of $3.8 million (U.S.) a season, and given Campbell may bolt as a free agent, it's within the Leafs’ finest pursuits to get Mrazek going.

Speaking factors: It stays true that Tavares is singularly unpopular in Lengthy Island. He was booed each time he touched the puck and jeered when he was thrown out of the faceoff circle … Auston Matthews did not register a minimum of some extent for the primary time in 12 highway video games, one sport shy of Doug Gilmour’s staff report. Matthews had 12 objectives and 4 assists in that span, and established a staff report of 10 straight highway video games with a aim … Engvall scored his first aim since Dec. 11. He now has factors in three straight video games.

Crowd management: The factor about an Islanders sport is the gang, particularly when the Leafs come to city and Tavares is within the lineup. So Mrazek’s job was to take the gang out of the sport as finest he may. And he did that within the first interval, which ended with the Leafs up 2-1.

Matt Martin received the followers on the UBS Area going with a giant hit on Tavares, prompting chants of “J.T. sucks.” And Mrazek’s finest early save got here proper after that hit, stopping Anders Lee from in shut and stopping the amped-up crowd from having fun with an excellent greater second.

After Marner scored short-handed, Zach Parise outhustled Timothy Liljegren to tie the sport with a minute to go within the interval. Then Mrazek wanted a save a proper after, on a Cal Clutterbuck breakaway, to maintain the sport tied. Engvall put the Leafs up 2-1, scoring as time expired on an Islanders giveaway.

And Mrazek was good when he wanted to be within the second, blanking the Islanders and holding the fort on the penalty kill after Rielly’s aim had given Toronto a 3-1 lead. Mrazek stopped 4 photographs with Carl Dahlstrom off for interference.

Mourning Gillies: The Islanders held a ceremony to honour Clark Gillies, who died on Friday. The tough-as-nails Gillies was a former captain of the staff, a Corridor of Famer, and a member of the dynastic Islanders squad that gained the Stanley Cup 4 straight years (1980-1983). The staff will put on a patch that includes his No. 9. The staff confirmed a video tribute and supplied a second of silence earlier than the sport.

Tavares supplied his condolences to the Gillies household. “He was super to me in my time right here (with the Islanders). And he made a hell of an impression on the ice and off it as effectively.”

In regards to the Isles: The Jap Convention appears neatly divided into the haves and the have-nots, apart from one staff: the Islanders. The playoffs appear predictable. It will likely be Florida, Tampa, Toronto and Boston within the Atlantic, with solely the ultimate order to be decided. The Metropolitan seems to be the identical, with Carolina, the Rangers, Pittsburgh and Washington trying comfy. However the Islanders solely look out of it as a result of they've so many video games in hand. They got here into Saturday’s sport on a 7-2-1 run and, if they'll hold that up, a kind of 4 Metro groups will begin to get a bit uncomfortable.

“They’ve they discovered their sport,” Keefe mentioned. “They’ve been getting plenty of good outcomes. So that they’re a assured staff. So I’m positive each time a staff forward of them within the standings is available in, they're hungry and desperate to get these factors and get these wins.”

Roster notes: Leafs defenceman Justin Holl and ahead Ondrej Kaše have rejoined the staff, launched from COVID protocols in Arizona … Goalie Erik Kallgren has changed Michael Hutchinson on the taxi squad, partly on account of limits to the size of time anybody participant might be on the taxi squad.