Lorentz ends goal drought to help Maple Leafs edge Islanders

TORONTO -- Steven Lorentz ended a 23-game drought by scoring the go-ahead goal for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 3-1 win against the New York Islanders at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday.

He took a pass from Ryan Reaves and put the puck around Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield before scoring from the slot, his first goal since Nov. 5.

"I kind of blacked out afterwards but it was a hard-working goal, and it started in our own end," Lorentz said. "Ryan Reaves made a great play on the wall and I had some speed coming through the middle, so I thought I might put it to one side and then try to put it behind [Mayfield] and hop around him, and was fortunate enough it got there and then I just fired it on net and was fortunate it went in. It's one I'll remember. It was pretty cool to do that and hear the building go loud like that."

David Kampf and John Tavares scored, William Nylander had two assists, and Joseph Woll made 30 saves for the Maple Leafs (23-13-2), who had lost three of four.

"We grinded one out, yeah, for sure," Toronto coach Craig Berube said. "Pretty non-eventful game, but not pretty, but we grinded it out. Our goalie was good and we figured out a way to do it."

Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored, and Ilya Sorokin made 22 saves for the Islanders (14-17-7).

"I thought we played a good game," New York coach Patrick Roy said. "To be a great game we have to win, but I thought we played a good game. We had a lot of chances, we didn't give them much. That was a hard-fought; both teams played well. We had our chances to score goals, and we did not."

The Islanders are 2-5-0 in their past seven games and seventh in the Metropolitan Division.

"We're worried about just winning games and clawing ourselves back into it and not thinking about the opposite," center Brock Nelson said. "We want to get off to a good start in the new year. We've been talking about getting on a roll and just playing good solid hockey and getting a good stretch of wins to get ourselves back more in the mix, so that's the main focus."

Kampf gave the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead at 17:54 of the first period. After Nylander squeezed past Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson along the boards behind the net, he found Kampf in the slot for a one-timer past Sorokin's glove.

The Islanders thought they tied the game 38 seconds into the second period when Adam Pelech scored, but the Maple Leafs used a coach's challenge for offside, and the call on the ice was overturned after video review.

Toronto appeared to take a two-goal lead at 3:58 when Matthew Knies scored, but New York used a coach's challenge for goalie interference, and the call on the ice was overturned.

"We have iPads on the bench so we kind of know what the call is going to be, and I think there's not many things more deflating when you score a goal and the other team goes and challenges right away," Lorentz said.

Pageau tied it 1-1 at 11:59 of the second period when he one-timed a pass from Dobson below the left hash marks.

Lorentz put the Maple Leafs up 2-1 just 16 seconds later at 12:15.

"Big goal, obviously," defenseman Morgan Rielly said. "Great shot. He plays hard, does all the right things. Plays within structure, plays physical. He's committed, so you want guys like him on your team."

Woll stopped Nelson on a short-handed breakaway with 3:51 remaining in the third period to preserve the lead.

"I think Rielly did a good job disrupting [Nelson] a bit, and it allowed me to do my job," Woll said.

Tavares scored an empty-net goal on the power play with 37 seconds left for the 3-1 final. The Islanders opted to take the defensive zone face-off without Sorokin on the ice in favor of an extra skater to bring it to 5-on-5, but they lost the face-off and never got the puck out before Tavares scored.

"If they win the draw, we don't touch the puck and it's game over," Roy said. "If we win the draw, we could ice it and then play 5-on-5 in their zone. I had 40 seconds left in the game, that's the best chance to create some offense. I put it all in."

Berube called a timeout prior to the face-off but was not expecting an offensive zone face-off without Sorokin on the ice.

"I didn't think they'd pull their goalie," Berube said. "... I think it's the first time that I've ever seen that (in a situation like that)."

NOTES: Toronto captain Auston Matthews missed his fifth straight game with an upper-body injury. ... Tavares extended his point streak to eight games (seven goals, six assists). … Dobson's assist was his 166th, moving into a tie with Jeff Norton for seventh on the Islanders' all-time list among defensemen. ... Nylander's two assists gave him 331 in his career, moving him past Ted Kennedy for 10th place on the Maple Leafs all-time assists list.