Game Preview: Islanders vs Maple Leafs

NEW YORK ISLANDERS (14-17-7) VS TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (23-13-2)

7:30 PM | UBS ARENA | BUY TICKETS

WATCH: ESPN+ | HULU

LISTEN: 88.7FM | 103.9FM | ISLANDERS + UBS ARENA APP

The calendar flipped to 2025 and the New York Islanders are set to host the Toronto Maple Leafs at UBS Arena on Thursday night.

The first matchup of 2025 will complete a home-and-home series with the Maple Leafs after the Islanders fell 3-1 in Toronto on Tuesday afternoon. JG Pageau scored the lone goal for the Islanders, but after David Kampf and Steven Lorentz scored for Toronto, John Tavares buried an empty net goal on the power play for the Leafs. Ilya Sorokin turned aside 22 of 24 shots, while Joseph Woll posted a 30-save effort.

The Isles are turning their attention to get revenge against Toronto after Tuesday ended their streak of five consecutive games won against the Leafs.

“It’s a new year and we’ve been talking about getting on a roll and playing some solid hockey,” Brock Nelson said postgame on Tuesday. “We need to get a stretch of wins to get ourselves back, to be more in the mix.”

SEASON SERIES

After the Isles dropped Tuesday’s contest, the Islanders and Maple Leafs are deadlocked in the season series 1-1-0. New York defeated Toronto 6-3 on Dec. 21 in one of its best games of the season.

MORNING SKATE UPDATES

- Semyon Varlamov skated on Thursday morning for the first time but did not take shots, per Head Coach Patrick Roy. The netminder last played on Nov. 29 and was placed on LTIR retroactive to Dec. 3.

- Ilya Sorokin is the expected starter for the Islanders on Thursday. Sorokin has started in 13 of the last 14 games for the Islanders, with a record of 6-6-1 over that span along with a .884 SV%, a 3.00 GAA and one shutout.

- Joseph Woll started in both games of the season series against the Islanders. After an outing on Dec. 21 where he made 28 of 33 shots - which resulted in a 6-3 loss for Toronto - the 26-year-old netminder had a rebound performance and stopped 30 of 31 shots against the Isles on Tuesday. Woll has been carrying most of the workload for Toronto after goaltender Anthony Stolarz had knee surgery in December. Woll is the likely starter against the Isles on Thursday.

ISLES NOTES

- Within the final minute of Tuesday’s contest, Head Coach Patrick Roy made a rare decision in pulling Sorokin before a faceoff in the Islanders’ zone on the penalty kill. The Islanders’ stellar faceoff percentage this season (55.4%, 1st in the NHL) factored into Roy’s decision. He put his best faceoff man in JG Pageau in the dot, who leads the Isles with a 59.5 FOW%, but it did not pay off for the Islanders.

“If they win the draw, we don’t touch the puck and it’s game over,” Roy explained. “But if we win the draw, we could ice the puck and play five-on-five in their zone. So, I had 40 seconds left in the game and that was the best chance to create some offense.”

- The Islanders have been struggling on the penalty kill all season but are taking strides to improve, as Roy was pleased by his team’s overall structure and pressure on Tuesday. Though they went three-for-four shorthanded in the contest, but their only blemish was Tavares’ power-play empty net goal, which had the extenuating circumstance of the empty net.

“It was outstanding,” Roy said. “Guys recognized the danger, we did a good job in that regard, protecting the middle and the net-front area and when we kept them on the outside, Ilya made some good saves. I love the urgency we had on our penalty killing, it’s a step in the right direction in my opinion. We had some good meetings yesterday about it and we know that we need to be better on the penalty kill.”

- Pageau has three goals in his last five games and has 19 points (9G, 10A) on the season, which ranks seventh on the team in scoring.

- The Islanders allowed the game’s opening goal for the 11^th time in the last 13 games on Tuesday.

- The Islanders are 0-for-17 on the man advantage in their last nine games and their power play ranks 32^nd in the league (11.3%).

- Noah Dobson notched his 166th career assist on Tuesday, tying Jeff Norton for seventh place among Isles defensemen, and one behind of tying Jean Potvin for sixth place on the all-time list.

LEAFS NOTES

- Steven Lorentz scored the game-winner against the Islanders on Tuesday and the tally put an end to a 23-game goal drought.

- Auston Matthews missed five straight games with an upper body injury, but he made progress in his recovery as the captain skated with the team for practice on Monday. His status on Thursday against the Isles is unknown.

- John Tavares extended his point streak to eight games on Tuesday afternoon with an insurance goal. The former Islander has 13 points (7G, 6A) in his last eight outings, which marks a season-long.

- Mitch Marner also extended his season-long point streak to nine games (3G, 10A) with an assist on Tuesday. Marner has recorded a point streak of eight games or longer three times this season.