Isaiah George Talk On Hockey Night in New York The New York Islanders [https://thn.com/isles] closed out the 2024 portion of the season with a 3-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on New Year's Eve. They were without Simon Holmstrom for the first time this season, as he is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. The Leafs were without Auston Matthews for a fifth straight game and were also missing Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Pontus Holmberg due to illness. The Islanders are now 14-17-7 through 36 games in 2024, good for seventh in the Metropolitan Division. Here's how the game unfolded. After playing a clean game the last time these two teams met, the Islanders found themselves in the box when Anthony Duclair tripped Mitch Marner at 8:31 of the first. The league's worst penalty kill was strong. They weren't overly aggressive and allowed Ilya Sorokin to read the passes and get into position. Scott Mayfield and Alexander Romanov did a strong job blocking the back-door passes. The Islanders were so close to closing out a really strong road period, but their defensive-zone miscues came back to bite them. After Sorokin denied a Toronto rush chance, William Nylander won a puck battle against Noah Dobson before he found a wide-open David Kampf on the doorstep for the opening goal at 17:54 of the first: The Islanders thought they tied the game in the opening minute of the second, but Adam Pelech's wrist shot goal came off the board after the play was deemed offside. Anthony Duclair led the rush but Casey Cizikas failed to time him properly over the Maple Leafs' blue line. Then, roughly six minutes later, Matthew Knies buried a rebound, but the Islanders won their challenge for goaltender interference as Nylander's skates were tied up with Sorokin's. The Islanders tied the score at 1-1 after Jean-Gabriel Pageau buried a beautiful pass from Noah Dobson at 11:59 of the second: However, just 16 seconds later, Steven Lorentz skated around Scott Mayfield off the rush before he sniped Sorokin glove side to give Toronto a 2-1 lead at 12:15 of the middle frame: Former Islanders captain John Tavares scored on the empty net at 19:26 of the third for the 3-1 final. Duclair struggled mightily in this one. He sat the final 5:53 of the second period while his linemates got two more shifts. After getting on the ice to start the third period, he took his second penalty of the game. Duclair has a goal and two assists in five games since returning from a long-term lower-body injury.
