Leafs’ first-period burst holds up in 2-1 win over Islanders

Cowan helped set the tone in four decisive first-period minutes

A one-goal game on the final sheet was really decided by Toronto’s sharpest stretch of offence. Colton Sissons opened the scoring at 7:14 of the first period, tipping home a play created by Nick Paul and Easton Cowan. At 11:55, Cowan doubled the lead with a wrist shot, with Jack Roslovic and Morgan Rielly collecting the assists.

That early push proved to be all Toronto would need. The Maple Leafs did not score again after Cowan’s goal, but the two-goal cushion gave them room to manage the rest of the night. Toronto finished with 26 shots, one fewer than New York’s 27, so this was not a game won by volume. It was won by making the first period count and by squeezing enough value out of special teams, where the Leafs finished 1-for-4 on the power play.

The Islanders found one opening, but Stolarz shut the rest

New York spent the rest of the night trying to erase that first-period deficit. The Islanders finally broke through at 14:09 of the third, when Emil Heineman scored on a snap shot off a Bo Horvat assist. That goal came short-handed, an important twist in a game where Toronto’s power play had already supplied one goal and looked like a chance to put the result away.

Instead, the late goal turned the final minutes into a test of Toronto’s defensive detail. Stolarz answered it well. He stopped 26 of 27 shots for a .963 save percentage, while the skaters in front of him blocked 20 attempts. Jake McCabe led the way with five blocks, and Chris Tanev and Brandon Duhaime added three apiece. At the other end, Ilya Sorokin kept the Islanders close with 24 saves and a .923 save percentage, which is one reason a game Toronto led 2-0 never became comfortable.

The numbers underneath the finish favoured Toronto in key places

The clearest Toronto edge outside the score came in the faceoff circle. The Leafs won 31 draws to the Islanders’ 19, a 62 per cent night compared with New York’s 38 per cent. Auston Matthews went 8-for-13, Sissons won seven of 12, Nick Paul won four of six and Roslovic won all four of his draws. In a low-scoring game, repeatedly starting with the puck matters, especially once the game tightens after the opening burst.

The Islanders did enough elsewhere to keep pressure on the result. They led 24-19 in hits and narrowly edged Toronto in shots, but the special-teams ledger stayed tilted against them. New York went 0-for-4 on the power play, while Toronto went 1-for-4. That left the Islanders chasing a game in which their best late moment came while short-handed, not with the man advantage. Horvat logged nearly six minutes of power-play time, and defenceman Matthew Schaefer skated 26:53 overall with 6:18 on the power play, but the equalizer never came.

Our take

Toronto can be pleased with the result and with the contributions from depth names on the scoresheet. Sissons scored, Cowan produced a goal and an assist, and Paul, Roslovic and Rielly all helped drive the first-period offence. Just as important, the Leafs defended well enough after that surge to protect a one-goal margin without needing another breakthrough.

The caution for Toronto is that a game controlled early still stayed alive until the end. The Leafs owned the faceoff battle, got the only power-play goal by the home side and received elite goaltending from Stolarz, yet a short-handed goal against kept the outcome in doubt. For the Islanders, the route back into games like this is fairly clear from the numbers: cleaner special teams and a better start. More shots and a heavier hit total were not enough to erase the cost of conceding twice in the first 11:55.

Scoring moments

1. 1st · 7:14

   Colton Sissons Goal (1) Tip-In, assists: Nicholas Paul (1), Easton Cowan (2)

2. 1st · 11:55

   Easton Cowan Goal (1) Wrist Shot, assists: John (Jack) Roslovic (1), Morgan Rielly (2)

3. 3rd · 14:09

   Emil Heineman Goal (1) Snap Shot, assists: Bo Horvat (1)