Joseph Woll held the fort on Thursday night and Bobby McMann broke through.
Woll made 32 saves and McMann scored both Maple Leafs goals against the New York Islanders, leading Toronto to a 2-1 win at UBS Arena. The victory came two days after the Leafs beat the Isles 3-1 at Scotiabank Arena.
Woll was the best player in a Toronto uniform from start to finish, consistently turning the Isles aside with poise and confidence. In the final minute, a pad save on Islanders defenceman Noah Dobson helped the Leafs win their fourth consecutive road game.
McMann scored the decisive goal on a power play at 17:01 of the third when he popped a rebound off the end boards past New York goalie Ilya Sorokin.
Neither Mitch Marner nor John Tavares had a point, bringing an end to Marner’s nine-game point streak and Tavares’ eight-game point streak.
The Leafs went up 1-0 at 10:43 of the second period when McMann took a feed from Nick Robertson and fired a shot past Sorokin on the goalie’s short side.
The play came not long after Max Domi threw a reverse hit on Islanders defenceman Isaiah George in the offensive zone, leading to some disorganization on the part of New York.
The Islanders tied the game later in the period at 18:15 when defenceman Scott Mayfield found the top of the net as the Leafs scrambled. Toronto was thrown into disarray when Oliver Ekman-Larsson broke his stick. Marner handed his stick to Ekman-Larsson, never mind that one shoots left and the other right. William Nylander couldn’t get proper position either, but the goal wasn’t all on him.
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Captain Auston Matthews missed his sixth game in a row with an upper-body injury, but he did join the team for the short trip and participated in the optional morning skate.
Down on the farm, meanwhile, Alex Steeves was named the American Hockey League player of the month for December. The 25-year-old Toronto Marlies forward had 16 points (seven goals and nine assists) in 10 games.
And defenceman Dakota Mermis, who was claimed off waivers by the Utah Hockey Club from the Leafs on Dec. 12, has been placed on waivers by Utah. If the Leafs claim Mermis, he can be assigned to the AHL.