Leafs end the year on a high note with win over Islanders

Joseph Woll won consecutive games for the first time since early December.

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Published Dec 31, 2024  •  2 minute read

Toronto Maple Leafs centre Steven Lorentz (18) celebrates against the glass after scoring his team's second goal against New York Islanders during second period NHL hockey action in Toronto, on Tuesday, December 31, 2024. Photo by Chris Young /The Canadian Press

On the final day of 2024, it became the Year of the Fourth Line for the Maple Leafs.  

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The lesser lights among the bottom six forwards supplied the offence to support Joseph Woll’s 30 saves in Tuesday afternoon’s 3-1 win over the New York Islanders at festive Scotiabank Arena. David Kampf, in a promotion from the fourth line and Steven Lorentz scored for Toronto before John Tavares added an empty netter. 

Under pressure much of the night from a heavy Isles’ forecheck and some mates’ disjointed breakouts, Woll won consecutive games for the first time since early December. That’s a good sign with a busy January on tap and Anthony Stolarz still at least a couple of weeks away returning from minor knee surgery. 

He preserved the win with a short-handed breakaway stop, staying with Brock Nelson who beat Morgan Rielly to a loose puck at  

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After a pre-game ceremony highlighting nine Leafs alumni who died in 2024 with an In Memoriam video, William Nylander matched Teeder Kennedy for 10th place in franchise assists in the first period with his 330th. 

Toronto spent much of the first period hemmed in by New York, stalled on four shots a long time until Chris Tanev blocked two shots and started the rush leading to the Nylander to Kampf goal. With two Isles trying to smother him behind the net, Nylander took a Tanev feed and found Kampf for a one-timer by Ilya Sorokin. 

Two goals for each team were then scrubbed by challenges, Adam Pelech’s for New York on a close offside, Matthew Knies’s bid to end his eight-game slump when Nylander was judged to have crowd Sorokin in the blue paint. 

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After New York’s 32nd-ranked power play misfired again with John Tavares in the box, Jean-Gabriel Pageau broke away with Mathew Barzal 2-on-1 to get it on the board. It took Lorentz just 1:16 to beat Scott Mayfield and wire a go-ahead goal up top. He jumped into the glass in joy like a Lambeau Leap in Green Bay with his third goal. Ryan Reaves and Connor Dewar collected their second assists of year. 

Kampf and Dewar lined up at centre in Auston Matthews’ on-going absence and with Pontus Holmberg becoming a late scratch with illness. It could be Holmberg has the same virus that forced defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson from the lineup. 

Dewar nearly followed up Kampf’s goal by blasting one off the post, in search of his first in 20 games. He,  Reaves and defencemen Simon Benoit and Jake McCabe are the only Leaf regulars yet to score so far. 

The season series between the clubs switches to the Island on Thursday where Matthews might return. 

The Leafs’ New Year’s Eve record in franchise history extended to 20-10-5-1, while they finished the calendar year 52-28-5. 

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