Maple Leafs 5, Islanders 2
TORONTO -- Right winger Phil Kessel scored twice and center Trevor Smith had a goal and two assists as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the New York Islanders 5-2 on Tuesday.
Left winger Mason Raymond and right winger David Clarkson also scored for the Maple Leafs. Left winger Joffrey Lupul added three assists for the Leafs (13-7-1) who have won three of their past seven games.
Center Casey Cizikas and center Frans Nielsen scored for the Islanders (8-11-3), who have lost six of their past eight games.
Maple Leafs goaltender Jonathan Bernier stopped 35 of 37 shots while Kevin Poulin stopped 19 of 24 shots in the Islanders goal.
The Leafs restored their early two-goal lead when Raymond made it 3-1 with his eighth goal of the season at 3:39 of the third period, tucking in the rebound of center Jay McClement's backhand shot.
Clarkson scored his first goal as a Maple Leaf from the left faceoff circle, converting a pass from Smith, at 12:52 of the third to stretch the lead to three goals.
Nielsen picked up his 10th goal of the season for New York at 15:14 of the third.
Kessel scored his 12th goal of the season and picked up his 400th NHL point at 17:17 of the third.
Cizikas hit a goal post at 7:31 of the second. The Leafs took advantage of the reprieve to extend their lead to 2-0 at 11:29 on Kessel's wrist shot from the right faceoff circle. It came on the first power play of the game with defenseman Andrew MacDonald off for tripping. Lupul picked up his second assist of the game.
But the Islanders scored with 11 seconds left in the period on a breakaway by Cizikas, who picked up his third goal of the season, unassisted, on a close-in wrist shot. The Islanders had a 20-14 advantage in shots on goal after two periods.
The Maple Leafs scored 22 seconds into the game, with Smith tapping in his third goal of the season on a drop pass from Lupul.
NOTES: Maple Leafs D Mark Fraser (left knee) did not play Tuesday and is listed as day-to-day after tweaking his knee during Saturday's 4-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres. He missed 13 games after suffering a torn medial collateral ligament Oct. 2 at Philadelphia. ... Leafs C Tyler Bozak (hamstring) had his first full workout Monday since being injured in Columbus on Oct. 25 but likely will not play until the weekend. ... Islanders LW Thomas Vanek (upper body) missed his fifth game in a row Tuesday while RW Michael Grabner, who has two points since the third game of the season, was a healthy for the first time since Oct. 9, 2010. ... The Islanders put G Evgeni Nabokov (groin) on injured reserve and recalled G Anders Nilsson from Bridgeport of the American Hockey League.
