TORONTO — Key contributors Adam Pelech and Kyle Palmieri finally returned to the Islanders’ lineup on Monday night after long injury absences. Whether it’s in time to save this spiraling season is questionable.
The Maple Leafs scored on three breakaways and had another lead to an unsuccessful penalty shot as the Islanders opened a two-game road trip by losing their fifth straight 5-2 at Scotiabank Arena. They allowed four second-period goals.
The Islanders (23-21-5) extended their skid to 1-6-3. Which begs the question of how much longer president/general manager Lou Lamoriello — or ownership — can stomach watching the Islanders drop farther from playoff contention without making changes?
Ilya Sorokin made 33 saves and Anders Lee scored twice. But the Islanders have netted two or fewer goals in nine of their last 10 games, scoring a paltry 17 goals in that span. Their power-play was held without a goal for the seventh straight game.
Ilya Samsonov made 31 saves for the Maple Leafs (29-11-8, who improved to 18-3-4 at home.
Both Pelech and Palmieri were activated off injured reserve on Monday as right wings Hudson Fasching (lower body) and Cal Clutterbuck (upper body) were placed on injured reserve and defenseman Dennis Cholowski was returned to the Islanders’ AHL affiliate in Bridgeport.
Palmieri’s injury woes started at Scotiabank Arena with a third-period, neutral-zone collision with Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly in the Islanders’ 3-2 overtime win on Nov. 21. He
missed 10 games — Rielly missed 15 with an injured left knee but returned on Dec. 16. However, Palmieri exited the 5-4 loss in Arizona after absorbing a hard, high hit from Nick Ritchie.
Pelech was sidelined for the 21 games after being knocked into the boards by Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo in the third period of the Islanders’ 7-4 loss at UBS Arena on Dec. 6.
But their returns couldn’t help the Islanders reverse their penchant for mistakes leading to goals.
Ex-Islander captain John Tavares took eight shots in the second period, one of them after he slipped past defenseman Alexander Romanov on a bad change for a power-play backhander to tie the game at 2-2 at 7:53 of the second period. Calle Jarnkrok followed with his own breakaway goal for the lead at 9:33, getting past Pelech and Scott Mayfield. William Nylander sprung both players up ice.
Sorokin briefly kept it to a one-goal deficit as he denied Michael Bunting’s penalty shot 15:24 after Romanov took him down going to the crease.
But Nylander snapped a high shot from the slot to make it 4-2 at 16:32 of the second period.
The Maple Leafs, who have now outscored opponents 67-40 in the second period, initially tied it at 1-1 at 5:07 of the second period as Tavares brought the puck deep past Anthony Beauvillier and found Nylander trailing with a backhand drop. Lee regained a 2-1 lead for the Islanders at 6:18 of the second period on a one-timer from the right circle. Mathew Barzal, keeping the sequence alive on the far wall, snapped a seven-game point drought with the secondary assist.
Palmieri, and particularly Pelech’s return, had an immediate effect in the first period as the Islanders were efficient in breaking the puck out of their own zone and, as a result, playing with more speed. Palmieri got the first assist on Lee's second goal.
The Islanders also held the Maple Leafs to three shots while skating five-on-five in the first. It finally led to a 1-0 lead as Lee got to a loose puck at the Maple Leafs’ crease with 22.2 seconds remaining following Brock Nelson’s initial tip-in try.
Auston Matthews extended the Maple Leafs’ lead to 5-2 at 7:44 of the third period after being sprung past defenseman Ryan Pulock.
