Nylander shines as Maple Leafs hand Islanders fifth straight loss

William Nylander scored two goals and had two assists and Ilya Samsonov made 31 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeat New York Islanders, who have lost fifth straight, 5-2 on Monday night.

This was four sure ⭐️@Molson_Canadian | #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/1Er1CHWMDT

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) January 24, 2023

”I don’t think a lot had to be said (in the intermission) other than pointing out the obvious, but it’s on the players,” Toronto Sheldon Keefe said. ”They did the talking and, more importantly, just came out on the ice way more focused.”

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John Tavares had a goal and an assist, Calle Jarnkrok and Auston Matthews also scored and Justin Holl had two assists for the Maple Leafs, who are 3-0-1 in its last four and 6-2-1 in its last nine.

Kyle Palmieri and Adam Pelech returned to the Maple Leafs’ lineup after long injury absences.

Anders Lee scored twice for New York in its ninth loss in 10 games (1-6-3). Ilya Sorokin had 33 saves. Samuel Boldoc, who had eight goals and 26 points in 40 AHL games this season, made his NHL debut.

”Our details and our awareness cost us,” Islanders coach Lane Lambert said. ”We’ve got to just absolutely get past that and clean it up.”

Maple Leafs host the New York Rangers on Wednesday night in the second of a five-game trip while the Islanders visit Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night to wrap up a two-game trip.