Leafs' late charge falls short against Islanders
Toronto suffers 3rd straight loss as Tavares faces old club
The New York Islanders' depth paid dividends once again.
Semyon Varlamov made 23 saves and the Islanders earned a point for the 13th straight game — a span including 12 victories and one overtime loss. Mathew Barzal also had a goal and an assist.
"It's a different guy coming up with a big play for us at different times," Cal Clutterbuck said. "It speaks to the commitment that guys have to their roles."
WATCH | Islanders hold on to beat Leafs:
Kasperi Kapanen, William Nylander, Justin Holl and John Tavares scored for Toronto in its third straight loss. Frederik Andersen had 25 saves in the Maple Leafs' second game since losing Mitchell Marner for at least four weeks due to a high-ankle sprain.
Brassard hammered a one-timer at 9:07 of the third to give New York a 4-2 lead. Barzal and Ryan Pulock assisted on the play.
Beauvillier scored his second of the night late in the second period to give New York a 3-2 lead when he jammed a backhander past Andersen. The play started when Beauvillier forced Toronto forward Alexander Kerfoot to turn the puck over behind Andersen.
"He's a key piece for us," Barzal said of Beauvillier. "We need him going every night, he is a big piece to the puzzle."
Toronto erased a two-goal first-period deficit when they struck twice in the middle frame. Kapanen tapped in a goal 43 seconds into the period to cut the Islanders lead in half. Tavares picked up the primary assist and his 100th point as a Maple Leaf since leaving the Islanders in July of 2018. It was Tavares' third trip to Nassau Coliseum as a member of the visiting team.
Nothing but love for John Tavares in another return to Long Island 😂 <a href="https://t.co/ecsS0svNzL">pic.twitter.com/ecsS0svNzL</a>
—@hockeynightNylander redirected a perfect pass from Andreas Johnsson past Varlamov at 11:22 to tie it at 2. The Swedish forward breezed by Nelson and won a race to the front of the net preceding the goal. Jake Muzzin also assisted on the play.
Toronto outshot New York 13-4 in the second period.
"When you evaluate what we have done in 20 games, we don't like it as a group," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "We got ourselves in the spot we are in, we got to grind our way out of it."
Barzal opened the scoring at 14:23 of the first period when he buried a feed from Jordan Eberle. The Islanders took advantage when Johnsson carelessly turned the puck over just outside the blue line. Eberle picked up his first point since returning from a lower-body injury that forced the forward to miss 10 games.
"With guys getting healthy, it gives us internal motivation because everybody is trying to stay in the lineup," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. "We are starting to get healthy now and everyone is trying to get a piece of the pie because there are only so many pieces to go around."