Maple Leafs get lucky in shootout win over the Islanders

It was a cliché night for the Toronto Maple Leafs – as in if you can't be good, be lucky.

A lucky bounce for Auston Matthews got the Leafs to overtime and then the shootout, where Tyler Bozak once again got them a win, this time 4-3 over the New York Islanders. Bozak scored first in the shootout and then Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen stoned all three Islander shooters Thursday night for the unlikely win.

It was way more than they deserved against the Isles and their prize NHL rookie Matthew Barzal, who had three points. While the Leafs registered their third consecutive win and eighth in a row at home, they were well off the form that brought that hot streak at the Air Canada Centre, which began when they whipped the Isles 5-0 on Jan. 31.

"We've played real well here but we're not talking about [Thursday night]," Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said.

Actually, lucky bounces played a role in the last two goals of regulation time. First, the Islanders regained the lead early in the third period when a Jordan Eberle shot hit Leafs defenceman Nikita Zaitsev's leg and bounced in. Then, as time was creeping away on the Leafs, Matthews bounced a shot off an Islanders defenceman to tie the score 3-3 at 16:31.

But luck bit the Leafs the other way again shortly after Matthews scored when he took a solid hit. He retired to the dressing room, where he stayed for the rest of the game. "I don't know. We'll know in the morning," Babcock said of the extent of Matthews' injury.

However, once they reached the shootout, the Leafs did not need to worry about luck. Not with Bozak, who scored the winner in three of the Leafs' six shootout wins this season. The veteran centre has long been a lone bright spot for the Leafs in the shootout, something they rarely won before this season. He has six career winners and is 18-for-43 lifetime in the NHL.

"He's unbelievable at it," Leafs forward Mitch Marner said. "He always talked and joked about how good he was back in the day and he still hasn't lost that touch.

"He's been great for us in that category but I think we've got to stop going that route. Thank God we've got him or else we might be in trouble."

Not even three power plays in the second period could shake the Maple Leafs from their doldrums. They failed to do anything with any of them, as the Islanders took the 2-1 lead they forged in the first period into the third.

While the Leafs have reached the traditional dog days part of the NHL schedule, from mid-February to mid-March, there is no longer a reason for anyone to be slogging through games. Since Christmas the Leafs have been through, in succession, the Christmas break, the new league-mandated five-day break and the all-star break.

Then again, considering how torrid the Leafs' recent pace has been, with 11 wins in 13 games before the Islanders game, they were bound to throw up a stinker sooner or later. However, with the schedule soft in their favour over the last two months of the season, this was one of those games the Leafs had to put away. It was against an opponent well behind them in the standing – coming into the game the Islanders were 10th in the Eastern Conference, one point behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second and final wild-card spot.

"I think they are a motivated bunch," Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly said of the Islanders. "They played a great game. They came out, played hard, credit to them.

"But I think we have to have the mentality a bit better than we did tonight. They brought the game to us early on. We have to be ready for that."

While most of the talk going into the game was about the Islanders' star centre John Tavares, he had a quiet night. It was Barzal, the second-line centre, who stole the show. He had a hand in all three Islander goals. He started things off with the second assist on defenceman Ryan Pulock's goal at 8:39 of the first period and then scored himself three minutes later.

While the Leafs came back with a goal from Marner, his 15th of the season, to cut the New York lead to 2-1 by the end of the first period, they were never able to mount a consistent effort. Only the six minutes of power-play time allowed them to keep the shots on goal close through two periods – 20-17 in favour of the Islanders.

But it looked like luck was going to favour the Leafs early in the third period when they survived two quick Islander shots that went off the goal post and took the puck down the ice to tie the game 2-2. Rielly looped a wrist shot to the top corner at 1:28 for his sixth goal of the season.