The Leafs four game win streak to start the season came to an end tonight against the New York Islanders. Both teams showed tremendous speed and poise, but the Islanders pulled out the win on the reliable play of goaltender Dwayne Roloson and by capitalizing on a few lucky breaks.
Matt Moulson opened the scoring for the Islanders at 2:17 of the second period after a beautiful pass from linemate Frans Nielsen. Moulson roofed the puck after beating Jean-Sebastien Giguere on a backhander. Several minutes later, Dion Phaneuf fired a puck on goal from the slot, which was batted out of the air by Kris Versteeg and shot into the net past Roloson. The goal was immediately waived off after it was ruled as a high stick.
The Isles played a cautious third period, leaving one forward high and the other two forwards in the neutral zone, to limit the Leafs bid to create scoring opportunities. Toronto maintained attack, led by the breakout by Dion Phaneuf to move the puck up the ice. The Leafs defence anchored the play for the majority of the game at both ends of the ice.
Midway through the third period, Colby Armstrong jumped on a loss puck behind the Islanders net and banged the puck past Dwayne Roloson, but couldn’t beat the post. The puck slide across the goal line and was scooped out by John Tavares. Upon review, the goal did not cross the line, but it appeared that Tavares covered his hand over the puck. The Islanders still led 1-0 with half of the third period to play.
Toronto had several chances to get the puck past Roloson, but he continued to shut the door. However, with just over two minutes remaining in the third, Phil Kessel snapped the puck between Roloson’s five hole to even the game at 1-1 on a powerplay goal to force overtime.
Brett Lebda took a goaltender inference penalty 3:07 into the overtime frame, giving the Islanders a 4-on-3 advantage. Leafs goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere had a couple of nice saves in the early minutes of overtime, but couldn’t stop a powerful one-time shot from John Tavares 3:26 into the overtime period. Islanders forward P.A. Parenteau fed Tavares with a crisp pass to set him up for a perfect shot to give his team a 2-1 win over the Leafs. Tavares has 5 points in 5 games played at the Air Canada Centre over his first two NHL seasons.
Dwayne Roloson also continued his excellent play in Toronto, stopping 29 of 30 shots. He also had two fortunate breaks on disallowed goals to Kris Versteeg and Colby Armstrong.
Leaf fans will be cringing after watching their team suffer their first loss of the season. Many positives can be taken out of tonight’s game, including the impressive play from Dion Phaneuf and Luke Schenn on the backend. Toronto’s third and fourth lines also continued their success on the special teams by killing off two of three penalties. Despite the loss, the Leafs still hold the number one seed in the Northeast Division and Eastern Conference.
Toronto has two days off before facing the New York Rangers on Thursday at the Air Canada Centre. Jonas Gustavsson is expected to get the start in net for Toronto.
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