Matthews' absence felt, team gassed, and more: 3 reasons why Toronto Maple Leafs lost 6-3 against New York Islanders

By Nestor Quixtan

Modified Dec 22, 2024 03:06 GMT

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The Toronto Maple Leafs dropped the second leg of their back-to-back games this weekend, losing 6-3 against the New York Islanders on Saturday night at Scotiabank Arena.

William Nylander had two goals for the Toronto Maple Leafs, with Bobby McMann getting one midway through the third period. Meanwhile, Bo Horvat had two goals for the Islanders with Maxim Tsyplakov and JG Pageau scoring. Isaiah George got his first NHL goal and Mathew Barzal added an empty-netter.

Here are three key reasons why the Toronto Maple Leafs lost to the New York Islanders on Saturday night.

3 key reasons why Toronto Maple Leafs lost to New York Islanders

#3 No Matthews, no party

Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews was a late scratch on Saturday night due to an upper-body injury. Matthews took a cross-check late in Friday night’s tilt against the Buffalo Sabres, leaving him in pain following the game.

With Matthews out of the lineup, it was up to the rest of the Leaf’s top players to pick up the slack. While William Nylander certainly did, the rest of the team fell flat. The Maxi Domi, Nick Robertson, Bobby McMann third line was broken up. As such, they failed to score on the night.

When McMann got on the scoresheet, it was while playing on a line with Mitch Marner and John Tavares. As such, Matthews’ absence loomed large on the Leafs’ overall scoring.

#2 The Leafs did not get a power play opportunity

In a rare occurrence, there were no penalties on either side throughout the entire game. Thus, the full 60 minutes were played 5-on-5.

Considering the Islanders’ struggles on special teams, the 5-on-5 matchup favored the Isles, allowing them to control the entire game. The Leafs were unable to get much going, with the lack of a power play opportunity making it impossible to take advantage of the Isles’ weak penalty kill.

With the game being close for much of the night, a power play opportunity could have tilted the game in the Leafs’ favor. But the Islanders stayed out of the box, and the Leafs lost on home ice.

#1 The Leafs were gassed

The Leafs played the second game of a back-to-back set and their third game in four nights. As such, the Leafs looked gassed in the latter half of the game.

However, it was the first four minutes or so that the Islanders got the jump on Toronto. With the score already 2-0 at the 4:48 mark of the first period, Leafs’ coach Craig Berube called a timeout to settle his team down.

The timeout worked, but the Leafs were unable to keep up with the much more rested New York Islanders. In the end, the Leafs simply ran out of gas.

The Leafs will get Sunday off to recover before playing their final game before the Christmas break on Monday afternoon against the Winnipeg Jets.