Maple Leafs defeat Islanders, pad lead for second in Atlantic Division

TORONTO --William Nylander had a goal and an assist for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 4-2 win against the New York Islanders at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday.

Michael Bunting had two assists for Toronto (50-20-6), which moved six points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning for second place in the Atlantic Division and set its single-season records for wins and points (106). Jack Campbell made 27 saves.
The Maple Leafs won 49 games and had 105 points in 2017-18.
"We've put in a lot of work this season, over the summer, and it's nice to see some results, but in the end that's not the big result that we want," Nylander said.
Toronto played without forward Auston Matthews, who is
day to day because of a "minor injury,"
according to coach Sheldon Keefe. Matthews leads the NHL with 58 goals and has 102 points. The Maple Leafs are 5-1-0 without him this season.
"It's hard to replace an Auston, I don't know if you can," Campbell said. "No disrespect to anybody else, but he does so many world-class things. He just means so much to our dressing room, on the ice and off the ice. But man, what a great opportunity it was for everybody to step up without him tonight, and I thought everybody battled super hard and got a big win."

Ilya Sorokin made 33 saves for the Islanders (35-31-9), who were eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention for the first time since 2018. They are 14-7-1 in their past 22 games.
"We knew what the odds were and all that, so I think we'd come to the realization a while ago, but we've just continued to play," New York coach Barry Trotz said. "We had to make up a lot of games. We had those five games a week for a number of weeks and tanks are a little bit low but at the same time, this group will play to the end.
"Today, I thought we were OK in the first (period), second we weren't very good. We had a little push after the (5-on-3) penalty kill, but we gave them three [goals]."
Anthony Beauvillier gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead at 14:17 of the first period with a power-play goal when he shot past Campbell's blocker from just below the hashmarks on the right face-off circle, but Mitchell Marner tied it 1-1 at 17:31 when he put in a rebound of Mark Giordano's shot at the top of the goal crease.

Josh Bailey was credited with a goal 31 seconds into the second period when he carried the puck out from behind the goal line, where Maple Leafs forward Alex Kerfoot swatted it into his own net in an attempt to clear it from the goal crease to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead.
"It's disappointing for sure," New York defenseman Ryan Pulock said. "Obviously we knew a couple of months ago we had dug ourselves a hole and we were going to have to fight to the end to try to get ourselves out of it. Coming up short this early [stinks]. We expect a lot more of this group. It's just frustrating."
Pierre Engvall tied it 2-2 with a one-timer from Kerfoot on a 2-on-1 at 10:49, and Nylander scored 2:31 later at 13:20 on a power play when he took a pass from John Tavares and shot between Sorokin's pads from the left hashmarks to give Toronto a 3-2 lead.
The goal was Nylander's 31st, matching his NHL career-high set in 2019-20.
"I just saw John get the puck and I knew it as coming to me," Nylander said. "I just felt like it was a play I could go five-hole, get the goalie moving across a bit laterally."
David Kampf scored an empty-net goal with nine seconds left for the 4-2 final.
"In terms of what [the team records] mean, I don't know that it means a lot especially knowing where we need to get to as a team when it counts the most," Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. "But it's obviously not nothing; I think it speaks to the work that this team has done and speaks to what this team is capable of. And it also just speaks to the fact that we just need to remain focused on the fact that we are a really good team and can do really good things."
NOTES: Marner got his 94th point, matching his NHL career-high from 2018-19. He has 26 goals in his past 40 games. … Bailey has three unassisted goals in his past four games. … Nelson played his 670th game with the Islanders, passing Tavares for 11th place on their all-time list for skaters. … New York played without defenseman Grant Hutton because of an illness. He was replaced by Sebastian Aho, who had two hits and one blocked shot in 14:02 of ice time. … The Islanders are 5-22-5 when they do not score at least three goals.