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The scoreline and result from Tuesday night’s game was very similar to the Leafs trip to New York earlier in the season, as they exploded with four goals in the second period, and held on for the win.

However, in this game, Toronto were much more convincing in terms of even strength chances, as they dominated that second period to earn their comfortable lead. The third period was a little concerning; you’d expect the Islanders to dominate the chances, given the score, but you’d hope the Leafs would be able to do better on the defensive end. Still, this was a great game from Toronto, against a team that had been impressive up to this point in the year.

StatusOverallESESCL
TeamTORNYI%TORNYI%TORNYI%
16940.00%5550.00%5550.00%
210566.67%6366.67%5271.43%
331121.43%1712.50%00-
Total192543.18%121544.44%10758.82%

The ES and overall numbers look worse because of the third period, but at ES close, the Leafs managed to outchance the Isles, especially in that excellent second period.

ClubStPTimeTScOscNoteTorontoNY Islanders
NYIES118:4100Kulemin from Clutterbuck42812146514529158631441
NYIES117:4700McDonald wide from faceoff2481183504553131731441
NYIES117:1200GOAL! Leddy from Strome25477146504512185125541
TORES111:1601GOAL! Van Riemsdyk from Kessel4281214444553178631441
TORES109:4611Kessel from Van Riemsdyk42812144464589912125541
TORES109:0011Lupul from Kadri264319125045531317374441
TORES108:5111Winnik wide from rebound of Lupul shot264319125045531317374441
NYIES108:4211Martin wide from McDonald264319125045531317374441
NYISH104:5811GOAL! Tavares from rebound of Nielsen Shot2647465045-295191215541
TORES104:1912Komarov from loose puck254771124445531317374441
NYIES103:2312Hamonic from Bailey42812146504512185131441
NYISH102:0412Boychuk wide from Nielsen2421124645-295191215541
NYISH101:4012Strome wide from Okposo2421124645-295191215541
NYISH101:3212Nelson wraparound2421124645-295191215541
TORPP100:1112Kessel from Van Riemsdyk42812134455153145541-
TORES218:2012Santorelli wide from loose puck25477144514589912133741
TORSH215:4412Holland drives242131245-519121865541
NYISH215:2712Bailey drives242145045-12188986241
NYISH215:0912Leddy from Strome242145045-12188986241
NYIES212:0612Clutterbuck drives43197144464529158625541
NYIES211:0212Tavares drives wide2547813445899121374441
TORES210:5612GOAL! Kessel from Komarov2547813445899121374441
TORES209:0922Rielly from Winnik25264744464512185125541
TORES208:4922GOAL! Polak from Winnik2526193464512185125541
TORES206:5232Bozak from Van Riemsdyk428121505145531317375541
TORPP205:0332Bozak drives42812134451229374441-
TORPP205:0032Bozak from rebound42812134451229374441-
TORPP204:4632Van Riemsdyk from Bozak4281213445511531441-
TORES202:0742GOAL! Kessel drives42812146504512298631441
NYIES201:3452Strome from Boychuk25477112444512185125541
NYIES319:3352Leddy wide from Tavares254771344591218625530
NYIES318:3252Hickey from Nelson42812144464529891531430
NYIES317:4152Cizikas drives241871465045531317374430
NYIES317:0652Kulemin from loose puck428121344591218631430
NYISH312:3752Cizikas from loose puck264734645-121853895530
NYISH311:5852Tavares from Okposo264734645-29519121230
TORSH311:5852Winnik drives264734645-29519121230
NYIPP309:5752Clutterbuck wide from Nielsen4319713445511535530-
NYIES309:1452Nelson from Bailey242618465045122986375530
NYIES309:0252Kulemin deflects Strait shot wide242618465045122986375530
TORES308:3952Panik drives242618125145122986375530
TORPP307:2152Bozak from Gardiner42812135145538625530-
NYISH303:2952Nelson wide from loose puck264734645-295191215530
NYIES301:4152McDonald from Cizikas264319125145531317374430

The player-by-player data:

PlayerFADTOIESFESAESDEVTOIESCLFESCLAESCLD
Phaneuf89-122:1024-212:24220
Franson66017:0423-112:09211
Robidas56-115:4443111:54312
Panik14-307:2014-307:0901-1
Lupul34-117:1833014:19321
Van Riemsdyk910-119:1444011:24321
Holland29-711:4214-307:3501-1
Santorelli54112:5354112:53523
Winnik68-219:4854114:27413
Bozak85317:4444012:47321
Kadri24-213:4123-110:24220
Rielly53214:4153212:27514
Polak515-1022:4648-417:0034-1
Komarov58-316:4044012:34422
Percy410-613:2947-310:0234-1
Gardiner33014:4032112:04211
Clarkson26-416:0025-313:15220
Kessel97217:0156-112:54440
Bernier1826-860:001215-343:431073

Another strong game from the third line, with Santorelli and Komarov among the best players in chances. Winnik also had another strong game, while Clarkson’s numbers aren’t quite as good, as he missed out on a couple of the third line’s offensive shifts. The top line was deadly offensively, and were able to hold their own in chances. After a rough series against the Wings, Kadri managed to get  back to even, an important improvement after getting beaten out in those two games.

Seven defencemen made the pairings somewhat more fluid than we’ve seen in recent games; a big beneficiary was Rielly, who had the best differential on the back end. He saw his ice time scaled back a lot from the games against Detroit, and had a strong performance. Phaneuf and Franson were again solid, and Robidas had his best game as a Leaf. Gardiner had decent numbers, but got fairly soft ice time, as he was the lone defenceman above 40% Ozone starts, finishing at 50%. Stuart Percy, on the other hand, had 0% OZone starts, but still ended up with decent chance numbers while the score was close. Given how little Carlyle has used his fourth line this year, the seven defenceman strategy might not be a bad approach. Certainly it seemed to give more benefit than the handful of shifts Carlyle has on occasion left the fourth line with.

Cumulative numbers this season:

OverallPos#ESFESAESDES%AvESTOIESClFESClAESClDESCL%
WinnikF72024-445.45%12:221411356.00%
FransonD52527-248.08%14:221513253.57%
KomarovF72318556.10%11:441212050.00%
PhaneufD73741-447.44%16:132023-346.51%
SantorelliF72219353.66%12:301214-246.15%
ClarksonF72424050.00%12:341215-344.44%
LupulF72437-1339.34%15:171519-444.12%
Van RiemsdykF73345-1242.31%13:491925-643.18%
ReimerG34049-944.94%20:411824-642.86%
BozakF73842-447.50%14:241824-642.86%
RiellyD72839-1141.79%15:111824-642.86%
KadriF72238-1636.67%13:291521-641.67%
GardinerD52020050.00%16:32913-440.91%
KesselF73951-1243.33%15:301928-940.43%
BernierG54772-2539.50%15:402945-1639.19%
PercyD62135-1437.50%15:201017-737.04%
RobidasD62031-1139.22%14:53917-834.62%
PolakD72349-2631.94%16:381331-1829.55%
KozunF5518-1321.74%07:25313-1018.75%
HollandF7521-1619.23%07:23210-816.67%
FrattinF214-320.00%05:5904-40.00%
PanikF6214-1212.50%06:2506-60.00%

Winnik moves up to the top spot, while Komarov has been extremely solid and is now at the 50% mark at ES close. Those two, along with Santorelli, have been excellent additions.