William Nylander powers Maple Leafs over struggling Islanders
TORONTO — William Nylander had two goals and two assists as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the slumping New York Islanders 5-2 on Monday night.
John Tavares, with a goal and an assist, Calle Jarnkrok and Auston Matthews also scored for Toronto (29-11-8), which got 31 saves — and a key setup — from Ilya Samsonov. Justin Holl added two assists.
Anders Lee had both goals for New York (23-21-5). Ilya Sorokin stopped 33 shots as the Islanders dropped to 1-6-3 over their last 10.
Down 2-1 in the second period, Toronto evened things up on a power play at 7:53 when Samsonov caught the Islanders on a long change with a stretch pass. Nylander quickly fed Tavares, who moved in alone and backhanded his 21st goal of the season upstairs against the team that drafted him first overall in 2009.